The Eighth Wonder of the World 🌎

"Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it. He who doesn't, pays it." — Unknown

A great quote.

It's attributed to Einstein, although there is no credible evidence he actually said or wrote it.

Nevertheless, compound interest sits high atop the list of mental models we must understand.

Based on exponential math, compound interest is a process where growth builds on previous growth, creating faster and faster increases over time.

Imagine you're given a choice:

1. Take $100,000 right now, or...
2. Take a single penny today and double it every day for 30 days.

Which would you prefer?

At first, the penny path looks like a joke.

• Day 1: $0.01
• Day 2: $0.02
• Day 3: $0.04
• Day 4: $0.08
• Day 5: $0.16
• Day 10: $5.12
• Day 15: $163.84
• Day 20: $5,242.88

Still seems like a bad deal, right? But watch what happens:

• Day 25: $167,772.16
• Day 28: $1,342,177.28
• Day 29: $2,684,354.56
• Day 30: $5,368,709.12

By Day 30, the doubling has exploded past the $100,000 option.

This is the power of compounding.

• Applied to finance, it creates wealth.
• Applied to the body, it creates health.
• Applied to relationships, it creates trust, connection, meaning.

So, how does this apply to a Salesforce career?

• Your skills compound
• Your Salesforce network compounds
• Your reputation compounds
• Your problem-solving ability compounds
• Your salary compounds
• Your savings compound (when invested)
• Your habits compound
• The technical debt in your Salesforce environment compounds

Compounding works both ways.

I know you've seen this before but I'll show it again.

• 1.01 ^ 365 = 37.78 
• 0.99 ^ 365 = 0.025
• 1% better every day for a year makes you ~38x better.
• 1% worse every day for a year cuts you down by 98% to about ~2.5% of where you started.

What's interesting is that by doing nothing — by standing still — we still get worse.

Why? Because the world keeps moving forward.

When the world moves forward by 2% and we stand still, on a relative basis we've moved -2%!

So, why all this talk of compounding?

I'm writing this newsletter to you, but really it's a reminder for myself.

I'm just two certifications away from the Salesforce Certified System Architect credential — pretty cool!

But I set that goal months ago, and… I’ve barely studied. Oof.

That’s negative compounding at work—me paying interest against my own ambition.

Whatever we do repeatedly becomes a habit. And by not studying, I've built the habit of not studying.

Our brains conserve energy by making repeated behaviors our default. In fact, there's a whole brain region primed to build habits called the basal ganglia.

"The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken." — Warren Buffett

And so I want to rebuild the Salesforce study habit.

I'm starting small with one Focus on Force quiz a day.

Remember, 1% every day is enough for a 38x improvement.

Professional fitness is like physical fitness in that it needs to be ongoing.

We wouldn't go to the gym for three days and then decide "Well, now I'm done and I'll be in shape forever."

On the flip side, we wouldn't think, "The only way to get in shape is to spend five hours a day in the gym every day forever!"

A balanced approach — a "middle way" of consistent 1% improvements — is likely the best.

So let's wrap this up and make it practical for you.

• Take a moment and rank yourself 1-10 on how well you're using compound interest in your life
• Identify the area compounding is working the best for you. How did that happen?
• Identify the area compounding is working against you the most. What one thing could you do today to change that?

And that's it!

Hope it helps.

Best,

Nick