14th April 2025
The principle “anything above zero compounds” emphasizes that even small, consistent efforts & positive actions can accumulate over time & lead to significant results, even if they seem insignificant in isolation.
It encourages making small deposits of effort or positive choices daily rather than waiting for perfect conditions or large-scale changes.
Showing up consistently matters more than showing up perfectly.
That small things become big things & never allow optimal to get in the way of beneficial.
The ambitious mind can view progress in very binary terms:
If I don’t work out for an hour, I’m not going to make any health progress.
If I don’t have a four hour deep focus work, I’m not going to make any professional progress.
If I don’t have an hour of time with my partner, I’m not going to make any relationship progress.
If I don’t go on a diet, I’m not going to lose weight.
If I don’t invest big money, I’m not going to create wealth.
In other words, the ambitious mind views the optimal as the standard, anything short of optimal is a failure.
This is mostly a good thing, as you hold yourself to a high standard and find the energy to push for growth and progress.
But it also sets a trap that many ambitious people fall into: Letting the optimal get in the way of the beneficial.
To fight back against this tendency, ask yourself this question: Where is the optimal getting in the way of the beneficial?
Where am I missing out in life, waiting for things to become perfect.
Where are you allowing your high standards to paradoxically hold you back?
Once you identify the areas where you are most prone to this cognitive discrepancy, you can get out of your own way.
Remember: When in doubt,
Move – Anything above zero compounds.
It doesn’t need to be perfect to be powerful.
The 15 minutes walk is better than none.
The quick message to your loved ones is better than silence. The once-a-year trip is better than nothing at all.
Spending 10 minutes with your loved ones is better than none.
A Rs 10000 SIP is better than no investment.
Writing one page a day is better than not putting pen to paper. Reading only a 1000 words is better than no learning.
Tiny efforts create lasting change. Reading 20 pages per day is 30 books per year,
Walking 3600 steps per day is 1000 kms per year,
Improving 0.1% per day is 37% improvement per year,
Consuming 200 calories less per day, (Reduce 1 chapati every meal) can lead to 10 Kgs weight loss per day and investing Rs 500 per day can lead to a corpus of Rs 1 crore in less than 20 years.
“Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest.”
There is no such thing as a perfect moment. There are just moments—and your actions determine what you make of them.
Stop overthinking, start acting. Go make some imperfect moments perfect through your actions.
Start now and let compounding do its magic & stay blessed forever.