"One of the core reasons why it's so hard to build habits that last is because changes often appear ineffective during the first days, weeks, and months. It almost feels like you're going nowhere. You have to remember that the most powerful outcomes are delayed. People often make a few small changes, fail to see a tangible result and decide to stop. For example, you might think, "I've been running every day for a month, why can't I see any change in my body?" But habits need to persist long enough to blast through the plateau of latent potential." (James Clear)

Efforts Are Like Compound Interest

Anytime you're tempted to complain about how you feel no progress is being made on an endeavor, catch yourself, and remember that all of your efforts are like compound interest that will take a skyrocketing effect at a specific point in time.

Warren Buffet didn't cross the threshold of rich to wealthy until much later in life when compound interest exploded in his favor. His billionaire status appears to have come rapidly; in actuality, it was a result of prudent long-term investment strategies.

The outside world only sees the most dramatic event rather than all that preceded it. But you know that it's the work you did long ago — when it seemed that you weren't making any progress — that makes the jump today possible. Real change can take years — before it happens all at once. (James Clear)

The climax is all about what happened before.

When You're Discouraged Think About This Quote:

"When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow, it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it — but all that had gone before." (Jacob Riis)

This quote serves as a reminder that anything significant comes from consistent actions time and time again. Though these actions will appear to be taking you on a train to nowhere, your progress is merely invisible for the time being. You have to implement faith, optimism, discipline, and persistence to keep climbing a mountain that has no end in sight.

It's mind over matter.

The next time you feel like quitting, think again. You're probably closer than you think if you've been investing the consistent effort. If you haven't been consistent, you need to start here. Consistency is the only way to get you from point A to Z.

"All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow." (James Clear)

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