The Cumulative Effect: Why Your Hard Work Is Paying Off (Even If You Can’t See It Yet)

Success doesn’t happen overnight—it builds through consistent effort, unseen momentum, and small wins that stack up over time. In this episode, I share my favorite pep talk about The Cumulative Effect—why your hard work is paying off, even if you can’t see it yet. If you’ve ever felt like your efforts aren’t leading anywhere fast enough, this episode will remind you that every action is a deposit into your future success. From the unseen struggles of icons like Viola Davis to the disciplined training of Olympic athletes, I’ll show you how true success comes from mastery, consistency, and trusting the process—even when progress feels slow.

Reflection Questions:

1. What is one long term goal you're working toward right now? How can you reframe your progress to focus on consistency and mastery? 
2. And to just get you juiced up about this, who's one of your favorite people– a musician, an artist, a writer, an entrepreneur, a climate change expert? What do you think their journey actually looked like behind the scenes, and how does that change your perspective on your own journey?
3.  What small actions are you currently taking that feel pretty insignificant but that could lead to big results over time, and how can you stay committed to those, even when progress feels slow? 
4. If you knew for certain that your current efforts would pay off in a year, how would you show up differently today? 
5.  Where in your life or business have you been measuring progress in days instead of seasons. 
6. How would your mindset shift if you zoomed out and looked at the bigger picture?

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Thank you for listening and just remember, you are the magic!

Chapters

• 4:15 Introduction to the Cumulative Effect
• 58:53 Understanding Invisible Momentum in Success
• 18:22:24 Staying the Course: The Importance of Consistency

Transcript

Christine DeHerrera: 0:04

Welcome to another episode of You Are the Magic. Today I'm giving you my favorite pep talk: The Cumulative Effect. The other day I was talking with a group of my podcasting buddies and they were feeling discouraged. They had just launched their shows and have been putting their hearts into it, doing all the social media, all of the things that we're supposed to do when we launch a podcast, and they had been looking at their download numbers and thinking is this even worth it? And I could feel their frustration because of course, I've been there too. This is a conversation I've had so many times before, not just with podcasters, but with all of my publicity clients, my advertising clients and my business coaching clients, my writer friends and, like I said, me of course as well, and it's always the same concern. I did this really cool thing, why hasn't everything changed overnight? And that's when I gave my buddies the pep talk, the one about the cumulative effect.

Christine DeHerrera: 1:05

Because, even though we know this logically, that success doesn't happen all at once, that it happens in layers and in repetition and in tiny, invisible wins that stack over time, even though we know that, we still fall into the trap of wanting that. But the fact is, you don't land one big media feature and suddenly become famous. You don't place one ad and triple your revenue, regardless of what anybody tells you, and you don't record a few podcast episodes and suddenly have a million downloads, unless maybe you have a 25 year television career behind you, and then maybe. So, even though culture tells us that we're going to have these instant rewards and this is even more true since now people's attention is scattered all over the internet, across social platforms, podcasts, videos, every type of streaming service. You get the idea. 

So we really must train ourselves to remember this: every action builds invisible momentum. Unfortunately, most people give up before they ever see the results, but I know that's not you, and therefore I'm giving you the pep talk so that you will rally behind all of your tiny rewards as well as celebrate your everyday efforts. 

I learned this early in my career, running my PR and advertising firm, working with everyone from first-time business owners to Olympic gold medalists. Even at the highest levels, success is not ever about one big break. It's about showing up consistently, doing the work and trusting the process, even when the results aren't instantaneous. So if you've been feeling stuck, if you've been putting in the work and wondering when am I ever going to see this pay off? This episode is for you. Today I'm going to talk about how the cumulative effect of your actions is creating success, even when you can't see it yet, let's get into it.

Christine DeHerrera: 3:12

As I said, the illusion of overnight success is one of the biggest misconceptions I see, whether that's in business or media or podcasting. It's the idea that as soon as you put in the work, you will get rewarded. Now I mentioned that we logically know this isn't true. Intuitively we know this isn't true, but that overnight sensation lie is so compelling we can't help ourselves, and our culture tells that story over and over and over again. Think of the books you've read and the movies you've seen and the award shows you watch. Yes, they do celebrate the person with 20, 30, 40 years of experience, but there's always one person that we've never heard of before who gets all the accolades, right? However, that person also has, no doubt, years of putting in the work, and over the years with my clients, this was a common occurrence as well that if they just got on that one television show or got that one media feature, that everything would change overnight. 

Part of the reason this is so compelling is we literally think once my story is out there, my business will explode, I'll get all the clients and I'll never have to market again. And every time I have to give my clients the same reality check. It's not the one ad, the one story or that one viral moment that creates success. It's the cumulative effect of all those actions that have led up to, and keep going after, that moment. And this is true in all areas of our culture right.

Christine DeHerrera: 4:53

A powerful example is actress Viola Davis. Today she's an icon and an EGOT winner. I mean an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony! She's the literal definition of a powerhouse in Hollywood and beyond. But do you know how long it took her to get there? She literally spent decades in theater, taking small roles, being overlooked and underestimated, struggling with poverty, before she ever got away with murder. People see her today and are wowed by her talent, but they don't see all the years of rejection, of unpaid work, low paid work, of fighting for every opportunity. She didn't become a star overnight. She became undeniable over time.

Christine DeHerrera: 5:34

And this pattern plays out in business too. You start something: a coffee shop, an event, an app, a consulting company and we hope that our 12-hour days bring us instant results right. Who doesn't want to see massive engagement, tons of clients and immediate success? But when the results don't come right away, this dreamer starts questioning everything. And that's exactly where most people stop, right before the momentum kicks in. But the true reality is, the people who succeed are the ones who stay in the game long enough to let the cumulative effect work in their favor. What looks like an overnight breakthrough is really years of unseen work finally being recognized.

Christine DeHerrera: 6:17

So here's a couple of reflection prompts for you. What is one long term goal you're working toward right now, instead of looking for the instant wins although you can keep track of any of those as well how can you reframe your progress to focus on consistency and mastery? And to just get you juiced up about this, you can also think about who's one of your favorite people a musician, an artist, a writer, an entrepreneur, a climate change expert? What do you think their journey actually looked like behind the scenes, and how does that change your perspective on your own journey? It's really good to write these questions and answers down, and I will leave the questions in the show notes so that you can find them easily, because when we reflect on that it helps us truly understand what we're doing and that we're in this for the long haul. 

So now that we've busted the myth of overnight success, let's talk about how the cumulative effect actually works. What's actually happening when you show up and take consistent action. Because even when it feels like nothing is moving, momentum is actually building beneath the surface.

Christine DeHerrera: 7:28

First, never underestimate the power of small, consistent actions. Left to my own devices, I personally love 100% effort, going all in until my eyes bleed, which, of course, is very exciting. This is workflow for the high achiever. We bust a gut going tunnel visioned in on a project. However, the long-term result of this behavior is a bit short of excellence, especially if you have a family or friends or desire a healthy body. So I had to retrain my brain to accept that micro actions every day compound over time and these consistent, small actions are a deposit into your future success. Think about it like this: 

–Writing 300 words a day, five days a week, 48 weeks in the year, that's a month for vacation plus weekends off, is 72,000 words, and that, my friend, is a book. 

–Another great example is: if you connect with one new person each week. That might not seem game-changing, but in a year you've built a powerful network of 48 people who know who you are and what you do, again allowing you four weeks of vacation. 

–One last example: If you subtract one hour per week from your doom scrolling on your phone, this gives you 52 hours a year to do absolutely anything. And what can you do with 52 hours? I bet you have a few ideas. 

The cumulative effect means that what feels small, those seemingly insignificant steps today, will become something massive over time, but only if you stay consistent.

Christine DeHerrera: 9:06

Here's the part that trips people up. Momentum is happening before you can see it. The early stages of any pursuit feel slow. You show up, you put in the work and sometimes it feels like nothing is happening. But beneath the surface things are shifting. Kind of like a beautiful mountain of snow looks simply glorious. Snow falls day after day, layering onto the mountainside, as more snow accumulates. Kind of like the hard work you're putting in right now. To the outside world, the mountain looks unchanged, just a peaceful, snow-covered slope. But beneath the surface something is happening. Some layers of snow are slowly building tension that no one sees.

Christine DeHerrera: 9:53

Then one day, something small happens. A single shift, a slight rise in temperature, a skier carving through fresh powder, or even just one more snowflake landing on the mountain, and in an instant that built-up weight gives way. What starts as a tiny slip in the snowpack turns into a roaring force of nature, sweeping up everything in its path, gaining speed and power as it descends. This is exactly how the cumulative effect works for you, every small action you take, every email, every post, every lesson, every rep, every reaching out to friends, every pitch. It might just feel like another snowflake, small, insignificant, but what you don't realize is that momentum is already building beneath the surface. And after enough consistency, one day your breakthrough moment will come. What once felt slow and frustrating becomes unstoppable.

Christine DeHerrera: 10:50

For me, I'd written hundreds of articles before I was asked to write my first press release. That turned into the business of my dreams. For a client, it's the podcast interview that brings in their new client. For the athlete, it's the years of training with no one watching that eventually leads to a big brand deal. So just remember every small action you take today is a deposit into your future success. Keep stacking those wins.

Christine DeHerrera: 11:16

And here's a couple of reflection questions that you can think about. What small actions are you currently taking that feel pretty insignificant but that could lead to big results over time, and how can you stay committed to those, even when progress feels slow? Another thing I want you to reflect on is if you knew for certain that your current efforts would pay off in a year, how would you show up differently today? What's one small action you can commit to consistently so you realize you're in the middle of it Now? Because at some point, hopefully not today, you're going to have that sinking feeling that maybe all of this effort isn't leading anywhere. It might be a day when the frustrations and the doubts and the failures just don't feel worth it, and this is when most people quit. This is also where the people who succeed separate themselves from the ones who don't, because, after 20 years of doing this, it's not about talent, it's not about luck. It's about how you show up when success feels very far away.

Christine DeHerrera: 12:24

I had a photo on my desk for years that said it's never crowded on the extra mile, and that is the secret. So you need to think like an athlete, an artist, a warrior and if you've ever read Steven Pressfield's work either The War of Art or Turning Pro then you already know where I'm going with this. Your ultimate success comes down to: number one devotion. Devotion to mastering your craft. Two: consistency. And three: showing up like a pro, even when nobody's watching. How, you might ask. Well, there's a few things to think about. The first is you need to adopt a training mindset.

Christine DeHerrera: 13:06

I had the privilege of working with Olympic athletes in my business for years and years, and here's why they are different from all the other people they passed along the way to the Olympics. They don't train only on days when they feel inspired. They don't skip workouts because they're not seeing immediate results. They follow a schedule. They put in the reps and they trust that every day of training is moving them forward, even when they're moving backwards. This devotion to the sport and the training is exactly how you need to approach your work, whether it's growing your business, building an audience or honing your craft.

Christine DeHerrera: 13:43

You're not waiting for inspiration. You're not working only when the results are obvious. You are training. You show up every single day because that's what professionals do. That's what Steven Pressfield taught us. And don't forget how much time and effort athletes put into rest and recovery. I will definitely do an entire episode about this because I don't want you to think that every day has to be 100% full out, because the rest and recovery is what builds the muscles and makes the training work. But I digress, we will come back to that.

Christine DeHerrera: 14:18

So one of my favorite authors, Steven Pressfield. He calls this whole concept turning pro. He says that amateurs work when they feel like it, but professionals show up no matter what. That moment you decide to commit fully to your work, to show up regardless of your motivation, you've already separated yourself from 99% of all people. So don't wait to feel successful before acting like a pro. Train like one first.

Christine DeHerrera: 14:46

The other important concept here is that we need to track our progress in seasons, not days. Pros aren't making the mistake that the vast majority of people make and it's looking at the wrong timeline. And you know you're looking at the wrong timeline when you obsess over useless numbers every day or you spend time comparing yourself to your so-called competitors, the ones you see on the internet, and overthinking every next step while taking zero action. That's a sure way to get discouraged. Daily metrics rarely show momentum, but seasons do.

Christine DeHerrera: 15:23

Let's think again about Olympic athletes. While, of course, they have hourly, daily and weekly training strategies, they're zoomed out the whole time. They're measuring progress over months and years and trust that every day of training and eating and let's not forget again, resting and recovering, is stacking up, even when they don't see it yet. And this applies to you. If you measure your success too soon, you'll always feel behind. But if you commit to the long game, you'll look back and realize how far you've come. And an exciting thing happens when you're focused on the long game. All those people chasing quick wins, fast money, viral content, overnight success– many of them disappear, whether from burnout, injury or boredom.

Christine DeHerrera: 16:07

But the people who truly break through are obsessed with mastery. This is one of my favorite subjects. I will be having probably whole seasons devoted to mastery, because this is where it gets really exciting. Another digression, but the best athletes and creatives and creators and entrepreneurs didn't just show up, they got excellent. They put in thousands of hours of deep work which has made all the difference.

Christine DeHerrera: 16:36

And this, again, is where Steven Pressfield's The War of Art comes in. He talks about resistance, that internal force that tries to stop us from doing our most important work. Every time you feel self doubt, procrastination or the urge to quit, that's resistance trying to keep you from reaching your full potential. The pros? They fight through resistance every day and they win because they don't let resistance stop them. And that's you. You are a pro fighting resistance every day, and never has there ever been a more important time in history for you to not succumb to the inner resistance that says it's not happening fast enough. Because I know for sure the world needs your particular brand of genius as we create a new way of living on this planet, the likes of which have never been seen before. I'm personally counting on you to push through your resistance. So if you stick with it long enough, the cumulative effect will kick in and the results will shock you. Success isn't about those quick wins. It's about stacking small victories until they become undeniable, which means you become undeniable.

Christine DeHerrera: 17:49

So a couple more questions for you to reflect on. Where in your life or business have you been measuring progress in days instead of seasons. How would your mindset shift if you zoomed out and looked at the bigger picture?

I want you to keep going. Your success is already in motion and right now, whether you can see it or not, the work you are putting in is stacking up. The opportunities, the breakthroughs, the recognition. It's all on its way, but only if you stay the course long enough to let the cumulative effect do its magic. I want to leave you with this.

Christine DeHerrera: 18:27

Remember my podcasting buddies from the beginning of the episode. The very next day after my pep talk, one of them was asked to be a keynote speaker at an event and another was invited a couple of days later to guest on a podcast. They thought no one was paying attention, but the truth is their work was already creating ripples, and that's happening for you too. You might not see it today, but momentum is building. You have to keep showing up and I want to hear from you If this episode resonated, if you're committed to staying the course and trusting the process.

Christine DeHerrera: 18:56

Send me a message, just tap the button at the top of the show notes and text me. Let's keep this conversation going because you don't have to do this alone. And if you haven't already, make sure to follow the show so you never miss an episode. And if this episode gave you the pep talk you needed, leave a five-star review. It helps more high achievers like you find the show. Or share with a friend who's working hard towards their big goals and who needs the pep talk, because the more we support each other, the bigger ripple effect we create. 

Remember, success isn't about what you do once. It's about what you do consistently. Keep showing up, keep stacking your wins and remember, you are the magic.