COMPOUNDING + Why Refusing to Choose, Is in Itself, a Choice

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I'm going to repeat the title of this post with the hope that it will sink in: refusing to choose, is in itself, a choice.

"Wait, what? What does that mean? How can that be? If I didn't choose something, then if it happens, it wasn't my fault; I didn't choose that."

True.

But the thing is, life doesn't care whether you consciously choose; it will march in whatever direction you've pointed yourself.

Let's use health as an example.

No one consciously chooses ill health; I don't think anyone wants to get sick.

But did you consciously choose health?

Because not wanting to be sick and wanting to be healthy are two different choices.

Choice #1 - I don't want to be sick.

Choice #2 - I want to be healthy.

Because simply not wanting to get sick is not enough to prevent illness; what will you actively do to maintain your health? What are the conscious choices you will make?

If you don't want to get sick, but you eat food low in nutrients, don't move your body, and don't process your feelings, you will - at some point - experience illness because you didn't make a conscious choice to maintain your health.

You only said "I don't want to be sick" but you put no action behind it; you didn't consciously choose health.

Without action, without specifically setting your course in the direction of health, you will slowly march towards illness.

Health is one of those things where, unless you specifically choose it, you're unlikely to maintain it in the long-term.

You might be healthy now, but that's because your bad habits have not yet had the opportunity to catch-up with you.

But they will, just give them time.

I'm not trying to be a morbid here, just realistic. 

The idea that the small things we do on a daily basis will have no impact in the long term is DELUSIONAL.

Why?

Because COMPOUNDING.

Tiny changes - positive or negative - have a huge impact over time.

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Example: A flight from Los Angeles, USA to Rome, Italy will take about 12 hours if the plane travels in a straight line.

But, if the nose of the plane is pointed just 1 degree off course to the south, after 12 hours it will land in Tunisia, Africa instead.

1 degree.

A change so small it seems not to matter.

And in the short term, it doesn't.

The plane off course for only a moment will still land where it's supposed to.

The less than optimal health choice (eating only French Fries for dinner) done once won't make you sick.

But add TIME to either scenario and the outcome isn't what you wanted at all.

You have to actively choose the things you want because if you don't, compounding will kick your ass in the long-term.

Too often people don't make a conscious choice about trying to get healthy until they get sick.

But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure; it's so much easier to make small changes now (1% course correction) than to attempt a drastic overhaul in the middle of a health crisis (getting to Rome once you've already landed in Tunisia).

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If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

- Rush: Freewill

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There's no such thing as not choosing; because not choosing something means that you will get the default option, in the long run.

Consciously decide what you want, then take the actions that - with the magic of compounding - will get you there.

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I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.

- William Ernest Henley: Invictus

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Photo by Amar Yashlaha on Unsplash