“Everything you do in life should be with compound interest: your relationships, your money, your health, and your work.” (Naval Ravikant) The healthier you are, the easier it is to stay healthy; once your health begins to decline, you will likely continue on that path. Your sleep, diet, and exercise all have compounding effects that improve your ability to optimize each component of your health. A lack of any of these three components causes symptoms of depression and further decline in other healthy habits. Compound interest can also be thought of as momentum. With each step taken towards improving your life, the easier the next step becomes.
Momentum, however, can also work against you when harmful behavior choices result in a decline in health. One skipped work out, one poor night’s rest, or one un-healthy meal results in the next healthy behavior choice becoming exponentially more difficult to follow through with. Physical injuries very often result in depression, as our healthy, productive and active lifestyles become difficult to maintain. Even more so when we don’t address a chronic injury. Over longer periods of time, our behaviors compound leading to physical and mental stress. We have to continually remind ourselves to make small behavior choices that will benefit us in the long term. Our minds were designed to satisfy the urges of this moment. But now that our food, shelter, and safety are not as urgent for most of us; we should continue to shift more of our focus to our future self. Make one more healthy behavior choice than you did yesterday. Begin with small steps in the right direction and let momentum take over as you continuously flow towards your full potential.
