Compounding “The process of applying investment growth not only to the original investment, but also to income and gains reinvested in prior periods.”

I understand your hesitation to use the word compound. You only see these steps as long term investments (growth to the original investment). What is being suggested here is that a “small” investment of time can gain you more time now and in the future. And can self-perpetuate. You gain time “income” on your investment because as the process changes you wont have to worry about it because someone else is taking care of it.

Let’s take outsourcing to ADP as an example. Let’s say it takes you only two hours to do payroll a week for your 15 employees (this isn’t exact just for illustration) because you’re using time management principles. That’s 100 hours a year. Now you invest 5 hours to get ADP up and running and it only takes you 15 minutes a week (17.5 hours a year) so your investment saves you 82.5 hours every year. Even if you factor in the ADP costs and some occassional ADP maintenance time and you figure out that you’ve still made a very solid time investment. Now watch the compounding: what happens when the government changes a rule or when you have a new employee scenario (e.g. unemployment). ADP has taken care of it for you at no charge or a minimal charge for much less than you would need to learn it. But there’s more. What happens when you properly invest this 82.5 hours and your other time saved to grow your business to 150 people? Instead of hiring a full time payroll person or two you just spend a few more minutes giving ADP a larger file and you give them a few more dollars and you dont have to worry about it.

As a bonus not having to focus on payroll gives you more time to focus on what’s important to your business.

(Note: i don’t have any financial stake in ADP. This story is overly simplified for illustrative purposes.)

Do you like the term compounding better yet?

> Here’s six ways to compound time: Outsource Delegate Automation Learning Teaching Systemize

“Compound” is the wrong word, though. From WP: “Compound interest is the concept of adding accumulated interest back to the principal…” Again, you can’t actually create more time, in the literal sense of 24 hours. What you’re getting at is maximizing the *use* of our time, which is really what it comes down to, at least from that perspective. (That’s why “Time Management” is a good term. I’m staying away from it, though, for various marketing reasons.)

Thanks for making me think!

Once you solve the easy issues you can then go to teachers, for example, to get you to the next level.