How did I turn my weakness of dyslexia into a strength, and build a love of reading while developing my reading comprehension?
How did the book, “The Compound Effect” help me go from, “not a fan of reading”, to a hunger to learn more through reading?
Before I go on to talk about the book that helped me become more growth-conscious, I want to mention that I am dyslexic (as cued above). Reading was not my favorite thing. Getting me to read for leisure was not always something I enjoyed. The books I read must grab my attention within the first few pages or I am likely to never pick it back up again.
I had no concept of intentional self-development growing up. Aside from my mom having the book, “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, MD, I was not always exposed to intentionally growing my mental capacity. My mom continued to learn and grow with educational courses at work, but that was something I thought adults had to do when you grew up and had an adult job. And I also assumed it was only something she had to do in that particular business.
I grew up with my one sister who is my only sibling, and our mom who was a single mother that has always been in a leadership position everywhere she works and she still is to this day. My dad chose the life of Brad (we will get to him below) and I never really got to know him very well growing up. There were many nights I watched my sister because my mom worked the night shift. My sister and I did not get along, so it was like leaving two feral cats home alone. We would either hide in separate parts of the house from each other the whole night, or we would argue verbally as if we had to scrap for the last piece of meat. It was not pretty. Somewhere under all of that, we love each other. But with the 5 year age difference and completely different personalities, we are complete polar opposites to each other. And neither one of us had any idea how to get along with each other. Ironically, it was just our under-developed leadership drive to accomplish amazing things in life that kept us at odds with each other. Something I learned entirely too late in life.
Can you relate?
If so, I am going to let you know a secret – you can develop into an awesome leader and have an incredible relationship with whoever you are at odds with, but that will likely be another post on another day.
Back to the topic:
I believe that my mom’s drive to always attain leadership roles has had a huge impact on my life. Leadership is influence, and I am thankful my mother lives a life where she strives to be a leader. Her influence has helped shape me into the leader I am today.
For now, let’s visit about the book, which is why we are here.
“The Compound Effect”, by Darren Hardy was the 2nd book I had read on personal development. The 1st was, “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, MD, and it was a little over my head. My reading comprehension was not well developed yet and I found myself day dreaming because of it. I do however remember reading it, so that is a great start and it shows it left an impression in my life somewhere.
It was roughly 5 ½ years ago when I picked up “The Compound Effect” and fell in love with personal growth and development. I am a little rusty on this book, but the concept has stuck with me enough that I am confident in discussing it.
My favorite “aha” moments of this book.
There were several, but I feel like the story of the 3 friends from the first chapter will be a great starting place because we all know some Larrys, Scotts, and Brads in our personal lives. And I am not talking about the actual names, but instead the physical character’s personalities.
For me, I am able to relate with friend #2 – Scott. He slowly makes changes every day. Even though they seem small.
Changes such as:
- Reading 10 pages a day
- Drinking seltzer instead of soda
Larry decided to change nothing he was doing. He appeared to be settled in life and comfortable with where he was.
Brad took a different route. He started making small choices that were not the best. They were not bad, but they were not growth related either.
Brad’s choices were things like:
- Watching more TV
- Having an adult drink every week
- He was doing less and seemed to be really enjoying life more
When looking at all 3 of these men, change is not noticeable after 5 months have passed.
But as time continues to pass, here are more results:
- After 10 months has passed, nothing is really noticeable between the 3 men.
- At about 18 months, we begin to see the slightest visible differences.
- After 25 months, measurable differences are apparent.
- By month 31 the changes between all 3 men are startling.
Larry is practically in the same place he was over 31 months ago.
Brad is now fat and unhappy.
Scott is now trim, has earned a promotion and his marriage is doing better; just to name a few.
That is what I personally love about the compound effect. It compounds whatever we are doing and after a period of time, we have a harvest of whatever we have been planting. We really do reap what we sow.
When I read this book 5 years ago it changed my life.
- I became hungry for self-development.
- I understood little actions create massive changes over time, whether the changes were good or bad.
- I started adding a little extra to everything I do.
- I read a little bit every day (often it was my bible or blogs, quotes etc. It was not the books right away).
- After some time of developing the seed of growth grew, and I started listening to CD’s that furthered my growth. That lead to me investing in myself even further. I hired different coaches in specific areas of growth. Then I hired a life coach. From there, it led me to become a life coach, mentor, motivational speaker, leadership trainer, and then a teacher of self- development.
- Now I help others grow.
- More seeds. More growth. And now, I am reading on average, 3 books at a time – AND – I love it!
None of the books I read are fantasy or sci-fi. All of them are helping me grow in some way, shape or form. Health, wellness, spiritually, mentally, financially… In any area, I want or need growth. Positive seeds lead to beautiful forests.
And what did that do for me?
Without trying, and with consistency (In the beginning sometimes reading the same page half a dozen times just so I could comprehend what I was reading – taking 3x longer to read a book than others around me), here is what happened:
- My dyslexia improved.
- My reading comprehension improved.
- My mental compacity improved.
- I am now reading books faster.
- I am stumbling over words less.
- I am now able to remain focused on what I am reading, and if I can’t, it is usually because what I am reading isn’t feeding an area I want or need to grow in, or I have already outgrown that area.
That is how the book, “The Compound Effect” has helped me take my weakness, my dyslexia, and my lack of love for reading and turned it into a strength. And this is only one area of my life that we are discussing today…
I have met people who wonder how people get so lucky out of the blue. I used to be standing alongside them wondering the same questions. How did they become an “overnight success”? I am now aware that I was thinking the wrong way. I had what Joyce Meyer calls, “Stinking Thinking”. Growing slowly over time is how everyone accomplishes great things. The compounding effect of what we do is what makes us, or breaks us. It is all our own personal choice what we will allow to compound. It is going to happen. Nothing can stop it. So I choose to compound growth.
Darren Hardy explains it like this:
“The compound effect appears to be an overnight success. In reality, his or her profound success was the result of small, smart choices, completed consistently over time.”
People who meet me today would never guess I was a slow reader, stumbling over words, and barely comprehending what I was reading. I have not gotten rid of my dyslexia, I have just developed myself into the person who now has control over my dyslexia, it no longer gets to control me. It does not, however, eliminate the occasional misspelled word, misplaced comma, or typo. (So if you catch a typo or misplaced comma from time to time – that..is..why – and I am entirely not sorry about it; because I love my little flaw. It is entirely mine to love and I have given myself permission to be human. I will correct them when I see them, but this is me saying – it..just..might..happens.)
When I am investing my time into growth, I always do more than what is required, even if it is a small amount, because I know the principle of compounding.
- One more phone call
- One more contact
- One more card
- One more video
- One more post
- One more photo
- one more book
- One more load of laundry
- One more of anything that I want to positively improve
Growth is my passion, my purpose in this life is to teach growth to others.
REFLECTION:
- What is your aha, or take away from today?
- What did you love?
- What did you learn?
- Have you read Darren Hardy’s book, “The Compound Effect”?
- Are you focused on small changes like Scott that will compound over time, or are you feeling more like Larry or Brad?
- Will you commit yourself to growing yourself over the next 5 years?