The liberating power of the exponential curve

If there is one thing we learnt during the pandemic, it is the power of the exponential curve. We watched, in horror, as a single Covid infection in our country or in our community spread like a wildfire, and caused unstoppable havoc and despair.

But the power of an exponential curve can be beautiful. Compound interest, anyone? And if you continuously improve an area of your life by small increments, say 1% a day, it could be 38 times as good in just a year.

Personally, I have fallen in love with what an exponential curve offers me: the grace of a humble beginning. I can start this blog with twenty user visits per day, and if I focus on just getting a 1% increase in my viewership per day, I will be 760 daily users (or over 20,000 per month). Is that easy to accomplish? Probably not. But deciding to be just one percent better every day, consistently, gives me a clear roadmap – and a clear view of the destination – while also giving me the grace to have a slow, almost unnoticeable start.

It’s OK to put in the work and the effort and not see immediate results because that is how exponential curves work. They take time, and they reward consistency.

Knowing that I don’t need to see huge spikes or immediate effects for my efforts gives me the freedom to start a YouTube channel, to start a community based business, to write a book, to build an audience and put in the work without expecting to see immediate results. The results will come. And if done right, they will eventually come like a (welcome) avalanche.

The key is to start, to persevere and to trust. The rest is just an inevitable truth.