How Memory Lies to You During Compounding
Old but Gold repost…
When you’re finally in shape,
you won’t remember which exact workouts created the transformation.
When your business hits six figures,
you won’t recall the specific posts that built your audience.
This memory gap is why most people quit early….
… and why successful people give terrible advice to beginners.
You’re 90 days into posting daily.
Zero traction. 47 views per post.
Your friends stopped asking how the business is going.
Every morning you open your laptop and that voice starts:
“This isn’t working.”
“Why is everyone else getting lucky?”
“Maybe im just not built for this.”
That voice?
That’s memory screaming while effect is still silent.
You’re in the gap where most dreams die.
Charlie Munger once said:
“The first rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily.”
Money is the easiest way to see compounding.
$31/month invested at 10% return:
Year 1: $392
Year 10: $6,393
Year 50: $548,147
From $18,601 invested to over half a million.
The first 20 years feel like nothing. That’s when most people give up.
Yet told you…
The same curve is running your entire life.
Every habit.
Every choice.
Every identity you repeat.
It all compounds in the same way.
At first, the line is flat.
It feels like nothing’s happening.
Then slowly, almost invisibly, it rises.
Until one day it rips straight upward.
That’s Effect VS time.
You’ve experienced this pattern yourself:
Six months in the gym with no progress, then suddenly on month 8 people notice.
A hundred posts ignored, then one blows up and you’re an “overnight success.”
Compounding is simple.
Until it collides with the trap.
Memory vs Time.
Memory works in the exact opposite way of compounding.
Memory is sharp today… You remember the effort, the grind, the sacrifice.
But with time, it fades. Fast.
>> You don’t remember the first reps that built your chest.
>> You don’t remember the throwaway post that later brought your first client.
>> You don’t remember the Tuesday you chose chicken over pizza that changed your body years later.
Right?
Now here’s where it gets dangerous:
Put these two curves together and you’ll see the trap that kills most people’s dreams.
Memory & Effect VS Time
Early days = strong memory’s, weak effect -> People give up.
Later years = Strong effect, weak memory -> People call it luck.
By the time the payoff comes,
you wont even remember the tiny causes that built it.
This is why history repeats itself regardless of evolution.
By the time your discipline creates undeniable results, you’ve forgotten the daily sacrifices that built it.
The small decisions that felt huge in the moment are invisible in hindsight.
Let me show you what this actually looks like.
Last year, I launched CK3scape.
Month 1: 30 followers. 0 newsletter subscribers.
Month 2: 70 followers. 0 newsletter subscribers.
Month 3: 151 followers. 10 newsletter subscribers.
That’s when the voice got loudest:
“This isn’t working. You’re posting every day for ZERO DOLLARS. You made more in one shift at the restaurant.”
Memory was screaming. Effect was still invisible.
If I’d quit then, I would’ve missed:
Month 6: 12,000 followers. 2000 newsletter subscribers.
Month 12: 58,000 followers. 4,700 newsletter subscribers.
The transformation happened between month 3 and month 6.
While I was in the gap thinking nothing was working.
Memory almost killed my dreams.
I know someone who quit at month 5 of posting daily.
Same posting strategy as me. Same age. Same work ethic.
He quit because “it wasn’t working”… Memory was strong, effect was still invisible.
Today he’s back at a 9-5 wondering what would’ve happened if he’d kept going 90 more days.
That’s the brutal part:
You never know how close you were to the inflection point.
This isn’t just about business.
It’s everything that compounds:
Your body. Your skills. Your relationships. Your reputation.
Every transformation follows the same pattern:
Strong memory of effort when effect is invisible
Weak memory of cause when effect is undeniable
Most people quit stuck between curves…
where memory says “This isn’t working” but effect hasn’t compounded yet.
Ask yourself: Have I given effect time to catch up to memory?
Most people quit at 90 days.
The inflection point typically hits between 6-12 months.
You’re in the gap.
The version of you that made it won’t remember these difficult months anyway.
But the version that quit will remember them forever.
Which memory do you want?
—CK
P.s Im rebuilding ZPS from the ground up very soon.
We’re talking streamlined Identity evolution + A community of entrepreneurs doing the same thing.
Dissolving the identity WHO CANT do the tasks that’ll bring you your dreams.
Then crafting the identity who can.
AND a community to hold yourself accountable to.
Entrepreneurs, high achievers, creators, coaches and everyone creative.
This is for you.