#221: The Compound Effect (Overcomer Series)

Welcome to Kingdom Writers where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Welcome to the Overcomer series. My name is Shelli Hitz and in this series my husband CJ and I will walk you through some steps to help you overcome in your writing, publishing and marketing of your books. This series was originally recorded as live videos inside Christian Book Academy and so if you would like to join us and be able to stay spend time with us live, then join us@christianbookacademy.com we wanted this series to also be able to encourage you. So I hope that you enjoy it and leave us a review and let us know how this podcast is encouraging your writing. We would love to hear from you. Enjoy this episode. Today's topic is the Compound Effect. This comes from the book with the same title by Darren Hardy. I have read this book previously and I'm in the process of rereading it. I highly recommend it. And so we're going to talk a little bit more about this and the scripture that want to start off with today is one of my favorite scriptures. For whether you're a writer or a business, an entrepreneur, this is a great, great scripture. It's Galatians 6, 9. This is the new living translation. So let's not get tired of doing what is good at just the right time. We will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up.

Yeah, great scripture. Just about plugging away day after day.

Paul was, you know, speaking about, of course, sharing the gospel, doing the work of the church, and yet each of us have a role, you know, in the body of Christ, in what we are doing, what we're producing, what God is doing through us. And sometimes we get tired, sometimes it's hard to just keep going. There's another scripture here, Proverbs 16:3. Commit your actions to the Lord and and your plans will succeed. And that's so key that first part committing our actions to the Lord.

Somehow, some way, the promise is, is that our plans will succeed. But I believe that the success really is defined by. By God. Yeah, that many times we have this preconceived notion of what it looks like to be successful. But I think that God has a much bigger picture of what success is. Things that we may never see on this side of life. And yet God is working in ways that we can't see. But when we commit those plans to him, we've got these ideas and we have to say, okay, Father, is this from you? Is this creative idea that I have to go with? And so I think it's really key there. You know, one of the hardest things in life, and you'd probably agree with this, Shelly, one of the hardest things in life is to continue doing something.

Even when we don't see the results right away. And one of the examples of this is just, you know, you've been praying for somebody for years and years and years and you don't see anything. And you know, this has happened with me.

There's probably even things that I prayed for for a long time and now I can't even remember, you know, those things. Maybe I gave up years ago.

But it is difficult to continue doing something when you don't see that result. We love that immediate gratification especially.

And yet there are some things that just we won't see for a long time. It just takes day after day. You know, one thing I've learned about running and increasing fitness and endurance is that it doesn't happen overnight. And you know, you've seen this Shelly, as you in your own running, that it does take time to build fitness day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. I like to say layer upon layer.

Yes.

You don't have these.

Get fit quick schemes like get rich quick schemes. But I've always told people, you know, those that I coached and those that I work with through my website, long periods of consistent injury free running will do more than any fancy workout. In other words, back to that get fit get fit quick scheme. They don't work in the long haul. And I just want to say that I think it applies to our writing as well. Yeah, that.

Writing and good writing takes stillness. It takes hard work of just putting our rear ends in a chair.

Yeah.

Long periods of meditation.

Really contemplating, maybe working through a scripture or an illustration or just saying something just the right way.

Blood, sweat and tears. It really takes time. And it's day after day and we writers have to, you know, sort of position ourselves to say.

There aren't going to be overnight quick results. Now there may be a full chapter that we, that we write and we can put like a finishing touch on that. But it does take time. And I had a friend back in Toledo, Ohio when we used to live back in Ohio. He was 72 year old legend, endurance legend. He worked at a running store and I got to know George and I love talking to him. Every time I'd walk in there, he just had story after story. But I still remember when I asked him, I said, george, what's the best advice you can give me, you know, as someone with experience? Because I was just getting into running myself. And he says in his voice, cj, there are no miracles in running. And I'll never forget that. It's so true that, you know, if you haven't put in the work and you show up on the start line, don't expect a miracle on race day, you know, And I think it's the same with us writers. God can certainly do things in our minds and give us ideas. I think that's where the miracle comes, is he gives us the creativity, gives us the inspiration. But we do have to sit our rear ends in the chair, still have to do the button chair time, sweat and cry. And yes, sometimes we complain. And there's all this stuff in the writing process from start to when we put those finishing touches and we actually press, publish, there's a whole lot of work and sweat equity that goes into that.

But it's so rewarding, right? It's like one of the most rewarding things in life. But the Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. His whole premise is that your life can be changed by the small habits that you consistently do day after day. It doesn't have to be this big thing. Like sometimes we're like, okay, I'm gonna write this book. And we just see it as this big thing. But it's the 15 minute segments that you write day after day after day. One of our Christian Book Academy members, John, he says he's written almost his entire book over a 15 minute break on his lunch, except for our virtual writing retreat. And so, you know, it's those little consistent habits, whether you're writing every day or whether you're taking a time every week or you have a chunk of time. You know, it's these habits. And he gives an example that you take three different guys and one of them decides he's going to start exercising a little bit and just eating a few less calories. The other guy does nothing, and then the other guy ends up taking in a few more calories. Neither of them are like doing anything dramatically different. But he shows this chart, and for the longest time they're pretty much the same. You don't notice any difference. So it's like what C.J. was saying, when you're doing something for so long and you don't see Any results, and then you want to give up. But he says after about 18 months. I think it was 18 months. You can read the book to hear the story for sure. But they start to split. And the guy that's been exercising and eating a few less calories, like, looks like he's in the shape of his life, whereas the other guy has put on all this weight, and the other guy is about the same. But for me, I started exercising consistently again around last November. And I've been an exerciser, you know, for most of my life. I remember in college, CJ would go on a jog with me and. Cause that's how I got exercise.

She liked running before I did.

And he was like, I don't run unless I have a ball in my hand because he was a basketball player. But when we were dating, he would jog with me.

Anything to be with somebody that you love spending time with.

Yeah, but. So I've been doing exercise, you know, I remember in college having one of those steps, you know, that you could buy, and then doing the step aerobic, you know, tape.

That's serious.

I know, but I kind of gotten just burnt out. And I just kind of had been getting and, you know, doing other things and just hadn't been exercising. And so I got back into it. And last week, I'm happy to say that for the first time, I was able to increase my long run to eight miles. Now, that might not seem like a lot to many of you, but for me, it's a lot. And, you know, for the longest time, I just kind of did my three to four miles, and I didn't really try to increase it. But lately I'm like, let me just see if I can, you know, just gradually start to increase. Because CJ's like, you know, as a coach, she's like, don't increase too quick. Maybe 10% a week. And with that eight miles, I was just, like, astonished because I was able from our door to run out, go into the garden of the gods, do a loop in that beautiful place, and come back. And I wasn't able to do that before. You know, C.J. would talk about his runs in the gardens and in the garden. I was just kind of jealous because we live so close to it. And I'm like, that's the power, the compound effect. Just me consistently getting some running in every week, five to six days a week, and it's really making a difference. Plus, with my health, I'm having a smoothie every day. I'm doing things to decrease my stress. Last year, I got sick several times. I think, like, maybe four times in a year. And they said it could have been due to stress. So I did some things to decrease my stress. And now a year later, I haven't gotten sick almost all year. I am probably lost a few pounds, which. I don't exercise to lose weight. I exercise to feel good. But, you know, I'm noticing my fitness increasing, my, you know, just all of these changes, my stress level's down. And it's just those small habits that you do every day.

So.

So as writers, we must realize there are no shortcuts. Right, C.J.

Absolutely.

There are no shortcuts. It takes consistent, hard work over the long haul, doing little things day by day that will lead to big results in due time. And there's a quote by Mother Teresa, we cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love. And I love that because our culture is really into the big. Having these big platforms and, you know, New York Times bestseller and this and that, and it's just into the big. And lately, CJ and I have been talking, and I'm like, is that really what I want? You know, do I really want 100,000 or a million followers on Instagram? That's a lot of responsibility. It's a lot of work to reply and respond. And, you know, you can almost get caught up in that machine. And it's like, sometimes living a simple life is much better, you know, and yet we can get caught up in this thought that we need to do these big things. And it's the small, consistent habits over time that can change your life, even when you're not seeing the results right away. With my running and with everything I was doing, you know, I wasn't seeing the results right away. Now I'm starting to see them. And I'm sure 18 months, you know, from when I started, it's going to even take off more. But whether you want to improve your health, start a business, write a book, it takes intentionality with your habits. So you have the power to choose. You have the power to, you know, be intentional and to set up these small habits.

Yeah. And I will say that whether it's running or writing, the more you do something, the easier it does become.

Oh, yeah.

Now, it doesn't mean that there isn't work involved.

Right.

But I notice in both my running and my riding that the more I practice, I'm just sort of in a more of a flow. It comes a little bit easier. It's not as abrasive, whether it's running, where I absorb a workout much better and I feel great the next day, not as sore. There's signs of fitness there. Maybe the breathing just becomes less labored in writing, when you endeavor to have a consistency. And I saw this with the last book that I wrote that I would usually go to the same place and I would block off three to four hours. And folks, I don't, you know, three to four hours. For me, I'm fortunate to get 5, 600 words because I'm sort of, you know, really laboring over how I want to creatively write something. And it doesn't come as prolific as this gal right here. But when I do it consistently, I find that there's some momentum that develops. And so that can happen with us. I love Frank. Outlaw expressed the power of our thoughts this way. He says, watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become character. And watch your character, for it becomes your destiny. And I think that's so true that for us.

It begins up here with the thoughts. And we kind of talked about that last week with the whole, you know, being victors and not victims. And yet I think as we begin to fill our minds, it doesn't look like a lot. One of the little things that Shelly and I will do is we start off our mornings.

With that cup of coffee, cup of tea for her, and we just really spend some quiet time both in prayer, meditation, but in God's word. And then we also love to perhaps add another book in there that we're reading, maybe a chapter at a time, but really it's just starting that day. Now, it doesn't look like anything earth shattering, and nothing earth shattering is going to happen in one, two days, even a week or a month. But day after day and week after week and month after month and year after year, that begins to turn the ship of what is going on in your thoughts slowly but surely. And for us, yes, we want our thoughts aimed in the direction of God as we start our day. It makes a huge difference in my life in terms of any creativity, any recognition of what God might be speaking to me, it's just essentially saying, I'm going to start this day knowing that probably a miracle is not going to happen like in this time, but over time, the miracle is that there's a transformation. Romans says we're transformed by the renewing of our minds. And so I just want to say that briefly that.

This compound effect Again.

There are no get fit, get rich, get written quick schemes.

It's about hard work, but it's about doing those daily things. I think those daily things really begin with our thoughts and what's rolling around in your head. Are you putting yourself in a position to hear from God, settle your mind.

Allow yourself to be quiet and still, wherever that is for you with that cup of coffee or whatever it is, but really beginning by pressing in, saying, okay, God, this is what I want to do today. Now, would you. Would you guide me? Would you direct my thoughts? Would you help me as I endeavor to write this chapter or this devotion, or this blog post or this inspirational social media post that I know could impact many that are following me? So that's really.

Key, I think, is. Is getting our thoughts in line.

Yeah. And recently I've just been thinking about this because I started reading the book again. The compound effect, but also just seeing the difference in my running, like, feeling. And I'm actually looking forward to it. Like, I'm looking forward to my runs. And that was not the case in the beginning. Yeah, it's like, it makes me feel good. I can process things, things, my emotions. I can listen to inspiring things, you know, podcasts or audiobooks and. Or music. And I just enjoy it. And like I said, it wasn't that way in the beginning. In the beginning, it felt hard and I had to force myself. But I was thinking about how all of these habits for my health that I've been adding over the last year, I didn't do it all at once. So I just started with exercising. And it was in the beginning just 15 minutes with. Or 20 minutes with an online video. I wasn't even running at first. As I got more fit, then I was like, okay, I'm gonna start running again. And then it's just gradually gone from there. And then after I kind of got back into that routine, then I started to add the smoothie into every morning. So then that was another habit. It was stacking. It wasn't like I was trying to do 10 things all at once. Because if you Try to add 10 new habits all at once, and you may be sabotaging yourself because it's hard to focus on 10 things. But if you can do one thing for 30 days and then get that consistent and then add another thing at least 30 days or longer, get that consistent to where it's. Once you form a habit, then it becomes like you don't have to think about it. And so I just wanted to say that it isn't something that I've done all at once. Drinking more water, drinking half my body weight in water. That was another habit I started to implement recently. So, anyways, I was running recently in our neighborhood, and we live right by Garden of the Gods. Like I mentioned, it's an incredible park with these huge red rocks and Pikes Peak in the background. Well, I'm running down our road, and right now they're doing a huge construction project in Garden of the Gods. Right, cj?

Yeah.

And right now it's closed off one of the entrances. And, you know, we have to go around and take another entrance if we want to go in. But.

I've been watching that as I run by, and this week, God was like, shelley, that is a picture of what happens when you start to implement habits. Because, to be honest, right now it just looks like they're moving dirt around. That's actually what CJ said the other day, right?

Yeah. You know, from God's perspective, it almost just looks like, you know.

People playing in the dirt, essentially, I just get a kick out of. You know, these are just men and women that are adults that just never got away from wanting to play in the dirt.

Yeah. So CJ's like, it just seems like they just keep moving dirt around. And that's true. But this week, it started to look like something. Did you notice? Like, it looks like they're taking shape. Starting to take shape. And it looks like they're going to be putting this sidewalk up, and they're gonna put some paved trails. We know that. But at first, it just looked like a mess. And it was like that. They didn't. Like, for months and months, it was just like, doesn't even look like they did anything. And when you implement a habit in the beginning, it's just not even gonna look like anything. It's not. It may. You may not feel the results. You may not see the results, but over time, it's like that construction project, it's gonna start to take shape. And you're actually, I believe you're, like, rebuilding pathways. And even in your mind as you put these habits in. You know, CJ said we start our mornings in prayer, but, you know, we are not angels. You know, we are not angelic. Like, we have struggled with that. We have had to be intentional. I used to wake up and scroll on Instagram in my bed for an hour. An hour would get by, and then I would feel like panic, like I need to start getting to work. And I would skip the time, and I would still pray. And read my Bible at, you know, snippets of time. But now I have that deep time. And instead of spending an hour on Instagram, I'm spending an hour with God. And it really makes a difference. But it was not an easy habit to do these things. It takes intentionality. And so you can't change your habits on willpower alone. So Darren Hardy says this in his book. He says, you need why power. So what is your why? Why is it that you want to publish this book? Why do you want to sell more books? Why? You know, what is your motivation? Your why, you know, keep coming back to it over and over for motivation to persevere through the bad days, because we're all going to have them. You know, Darren makes the point that you need to have a strong enough motivation and why in order to keep going. And, you know, I want you to write it down. I want you to take a moment, if you can, and write down, like, what is your why? Like, for me, my why is so. Because my life has been transformed so much by the things God has taught me that I can't help but want to share them. Like, I want other people to experience this. I want other people to know what it feels like to publish their book, to. To know what it's like to have freedom from addictions or sins or from the trauma of their past. You know, I want others to experience the freedom that I have had. And so it's just so important because there's gonna be days you wanna. You feel like quitting, right, cj?

Yeah. You know, I just read.

A tweet by a guy named Richard Foster. Some of you have read his books.

Yeah.

So, Celebration of Discipline, Freedom of simplicity. But Richard Foster just had a simple tweet, but it kind of caught my attention. It said, you know, we don't just work to make money.

And pay the bills. We work because we're. We're demonstrating service to the God who created us, and we are serving Him. Ultimately, he is a good boss, so to speak. And I think sometimes we just need that reminder, you know, as authors, we're not just writing to pay the bills.

That could be a secondary reason, but I think the bigger reason needs to be the thing that's really going to keep us going. As Shelley alluded to, with the why is I want to serve my God with the gifts that he's given me. And I hope that God will use me to impact people that get a hold of this book, that read it.

And receive the life that God wants to Give them through the book. That's a much bigger purpose that's going to last into eternity.

Yeah.

And yes, along the way, our good Father.

May provide money for bills to be paid and things. And that's great. And yet I think that the number one passion that will come through and sustain us for that long haul is really knowing the why. Why? Why am I writing? Why am I. Why am I sitting down here? Why is my butt getting in the chair day after day?

Why am I making this sacrifice? Because it is a sacrifice to write a book. We were just talking to one of our pastors who is in the process of writing a book with Nav Press, and he was like, this is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.

You know, just going through this process. And so you can do this one small habit at a time. You know, it's. You can change your life. God has given you the ability to make choices, to choose things. And we're not saying to go and try to do this big thing today. You're not going to run a marathon today. But what is the small thing? Can you walk around the block? I think Zig Ziglar talks about his journey to fitness and losing weight. And he just started with walking around the block, then he would walk around two, two times. And then, you know, it's like he kept increasing and then finally started running. And, you know, it's like, start with something small that's doable over the long term because then you're going to have more success. So, C.J. why don't you pray for us?

Yeah. Father, we just thank you so much for each and every one of our listeners, members in Christian Book Academy. We thank you for all of the authors that are listening and watching. Lord, we just ask that you would help us.

Implement habits and daily practices that add up to big results over time. We may not see it overnight, but over the long haul, we'll be able to look back and see the journey that in the path that you've led us on. And so, Father, I just pray that every single person listening or watching would be empowered by your spirit to be able to do the little things that are required on a daily basis. And that, as Galatians said, we would not get tired of doing what is good. Yes, but at the right time, we will reap a harvest blessing if we don't give up. So, Father, would you give us that stick to itiveness, that ability to keep persevering even when we don't see quick results I ask, Father, that you would reward those who have been working hard in laboring and faithful and to this, this task of writing, this really privilege of writing and to be able to express their gifts in this way. Would you bless them in ways that they can see, but then in some ways that they can't see? And Lord, we're going to give you the glory for all of the progress that is made along this journey. And I pray that words would be written, chapters would be completed, books would be finished, and that we can then say, thank you, Father, thank you for your good gifts, thank you for what you gave me. And we ask this in Jesus wonderful name, Amen.

I just wanted to mention that this also applies to marketing your books. So those of you that are in Christian Book Academy, I have posted in the Facebook group a case study about this. You can just click on the topics in the group on marketing and you'll find it. But it was basically this author had done something for like 18 months with very little results, and then all of a sudden it was like, boom. And now they sold like, I don't know, a million copies or something. But check out that case study. Know that it takes time. Like, we're not just going to set a 90 day goal and then give up if it doesn't, if we don't reach that goal. You know, I am getting to the point where it's like, don't, you know, encouraging you not to put deadlines on your goals? You know, like, leave them. Yeah, say a goal for 90 days, but if you don't get it, 90, carry it over. Keep going, keep going, keep going. Because, you know, there is this compound effect that will happen over time if you don't give up. So we're cheering you on, we're excited for you and we'll see you next time.

God bless you guys.

Bye bye. Thank you so much for spending time with us in this episode. It truly means the world to us. We also have a free gift for you. It's a new PDF that CJ and I recently wrote called 8 surprisingly Simple Writing Tips. Say that 10 times real fast in a row, right? But it's a PDF. You can get instant access just go to trainingauthors.com writingtips we'd love to send that PDF to you right now. And again, it's called 8 surprisingly simple writing Tips. Enjoy.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom writers.