Compounded failure

It seems like we’re not always winning.

Usually, smart people know that great days are very uncommon. They know that people most of the time suck and the best approach is not to look for incredible gains but rather small, compounded, improvements. However, we tend to think about the bad days the same as the average ones—“It was just a bad day”. Or worse, we don’t think about bad days at all. We think in terms of compounded improvements, but never in compounded failure.

Reflecting on my own life, I’ve noticed that the majority of instances where things went wrong were, in fact, outcomes of compounded failure:

• I didn’t become overweight overnight. It happened over hundreds of moments I chose for immediate gratification over long-term health.
• My room didn’t become a mess overnight. It happened over hundreds of moments I opted to get cheap dopamine on social media.
• Many old friends didn’t stop talking to me overnight. It happened over hundreds of moments when I preferred not to engage in conversations with them.
• My posture didn’t get bad overnight. It happened over hundreds of moments when I chose to sit poorly.

The most important thing I can say to my future me is to, please, think more about this compounded failure. It’s almost always invisible. Yet, it’s responsible for most of the things that I’m not proud of myself.