Author and leadership expert Henry Cloud shared a revealing story of how he overcame one of the most overwhelming challenges of his life–completing his doctoral dissertation–by watching an ant farm a friend had sent him. After setting up the glass container and pouring the ants in, he left for several days:

“…When I came back, something had happened. The sand between the panes of glass was beginning to take some sort of shape. It had been moved around into clumps, and little tunnels were beginning to form under the surface. But when you looked at any given ant, it carried just one little grain of sand. The activity of an individual ant seemed to have little impact. Nor was it apparent how any single grain had much to do with the big picture of what was forming. But the impact was happening, and the form was developing.”

Just a short time later, Dr. Cloud discovered an entire ant city, complete with an amazing network of tunnels. “It looked like a team of architects had been there for months,” he wrote,” with miniature bulldozers, trucks, and cranes.”

This story illustrates one of the most powerful principles in nature: small, seemingly insignificant actions repeated consistently over time create massive results. Ever since I read Jeff Olson’s powerful book, The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Happiness, I’ve seen this principle work in my life and in the lives of others.

The Myth of the Quantum Leap

Dr. Cloud’s story stands in stark contrast to our American culture that has become obsessed with the overnight success, magic bullet, big break, miracle cure, the killer app—whatever you call it. We feed ourselves on stories of people who win the lottery, lose 80 pounds in twelve weeks, and who go from lounge singer to American Idol winner overnight.

And so just like them, we want to earn more, do more, and be more–right now. But for the overwhelming majority of us, that’s a recipe for failure, disillusionment, and cynicism.

Little things over time create big results

Imagine if, on New Years’ Day, I handed you a stack of 16 books with a challenge to read all of them by the end of the year. Chances are, you would either laugh at me or tell me to get serious.

But what if, on January 1st, you committed to reading just 15 pages a day, which, depending on the content, might take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes. Allowing for two weeks off, by year end, you would have read 5,250 pages. And since the average book on Amazon.com is approximately 325 pages, you would have complete all 16 books and even started on a 17th book.

That’s the power of the Slight Edge.

It’s one of the most ubiquitous laws of nature–a force that God set in motion when He created the universe that applies to every aspect of your life. Small actions, compounded daily, really do create big results. Don’t fall for the trap of instant wins and big bets. Act like an ant: harness the power of the Slight Edge and watch your results soar.

I will have more to share on this in upcoming posts–stay tuned!

What are some habits–some simple, repeatable disciplines compounded daily–that, if you initiated, would fundamentally impact your future?