Melting the Ice Cube

 My original title for this one was Compound Interest, but I was afraid that folks might shy away from reading it for fear of it being about personal finances.  In a way, the original title holds true - this post is about the investments we make in ourselves and how each of these deposits has a much larger impact than we realize.

I was listening with curiosity to a podcast featuring James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, about habit-building, goal-setting, and personal accomplishments.  One idea that he shared really stuck with me.  He asked listeners to picture an ice cube sitting on a tray in a room that was 25 degrees Fahrenheit.   He then asked us to imagine what would take place as the room was slowly warmed up to 26, 27, and 28 degrees.  The answer was nothing - the ice cube would remain frozen, seemingly unchanged by the increase in temperature.  In fact, even as the room warmed up to 31 degrees the ice would not be melted.  In fact, it would not be until the room warmed up one more degree, hitting 32 degrees Fahrenheit, that the ice cube would melt.  Did that mean that the energy spent building up to the magic temperature of 32 degrees was ineffective or unproductive?  Not at all.  What it demonstrates is the effect that the compounding of energy has over time. 

To put this into context in our daily lives, think about a goal that you might set for yourself and the many steps that are involved in achieving the outcome you desire.  I will speak for myself when I say that it often takes a few weeks or more of work and investment before I start to notice any changes that confirm I am on the right track.  I often find myself leaning heavily on blind faith and trust in the process to get me past points of doubt that would otherwise thwart my efforts entirely.  Without believing in the power of daily compounding, I am sure that many of the achievements I have celebrated would have been set aside before they even had a real chance to take root and blossom.  It is hard to continue to work towards an outcome when we are not seeing real-time rewards for the efforts we are making.  

What I found most interesting about the conversation was the idea that setting goals is a great starting point, and helps to provide a path or overall direction for us to head towards, but after that, it is really down to the power of habit-forming and incremental work towards the outcome that takes us to the finish line.  When it comes down to making changes in our lives, it is the habits we either form or replace that are the catalysts.  This is new thinking for me, and I like the idea of separating goals and the work that goes into an accomplishment.  It emphasizes the journey instead of the outcome and I find that this way of thinking tends to help push past the typical roadblocks that come up along the path towards change.  It also emphasizes the importance of showing up for yourself every day, even in small ways, adding one more drop to the bucket and watching the water level rise and eventually overflow.