Magic of the Elbs

Did you know I’ve been writing these Monday Morning Memos for 15 years now? And in all that time:

1. There’s never been a Monday when I didn’t send a Memo.

2. I’ve never repeated a Memo that had been previously sent.

I’m going to break that second rule today because I think it’s what you need.

Last week the Wizard of Ads partners gathered for 3 days of planning and training. When Paul Boomer told me he hadn’t made any progress on his book since our last meeting, I told him about the magic of the elbs.

Later, as I was preparing my opening comments for the upcoming class at Wizard Academy, Checklist for Your Journey of 1,000 Miles, I realized that what the attendees would need most is the magic of the elbs.

Then, when I was reading a play-by-play analysis of how America was sucked into a whirlpool of economic doubt by subprime lending, it occurred to me that nothing can reverse a whirlpool like the magic of the elbs. That sucking downward into darkness is reversed to become a fountain into the sky.

“Hey Stupid,” I said to myself, “you need to resend that memo. It’s been 7 years and the people who read it have mostly forgotten it. This is the magic America needs today.”

So here it is, repeated from October 27, 2002:

Makers of miracles have magical little helpers. Is there a miracle you’d like to make?

Would you like to learn the magic of the elbs?

Elbs are Exponential Little Bits, tiny but relentless changes that compound to make a miracle. The power of an elb lies not in its size, but in its daily occurrence. For an elb to work its Exponential magic, the Little Bit must happen every day… every day… every day.

Every day.

Funny thing… When daily progress meets with progress, it doesn’t add, it multiplies. To harness the magic of Exponential Little Bits you must learn to ask yourself, “What difference have I made today?” And never go to sleep until you have done a Little Bit to move yourself closer to your goal. But you must do a Little Bit every day, no matter how tiny the thing might be.

Exponential Little Bits work both ways. They can lift you up or hold you down. There is much power in the ELBs.

Start with a dollar. Double it every day for just 20 days and you’ll have 2,097,150 dollars. But if you diminish each day’s total by just 10 percent (a Little Bit) before the next day’s doubling, you’ll amass only 793,564 dollars. Diminish each day’s doubling by 35 percent and you’ll have only 56,784 dollars – a holdback of 95.83 percent.

There’s a line in Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” that says, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it down! I could say ‘Elves’ to him, but it’s not elves exactly, and I’d rather he said it for himself.”

Is there a wall between you and your miracle?

I could say how to bring it down.

But I’d rather you said it for yourself.

Roy H. Williams