Compound interest needs boredom

Compounding is less a trick than a refusal to interrupt a process. Money that stays invested, skill that stays practiced, and relationships that stay tended all share the same unfashionable ingredient: time without a new thesis.

People abandon compounding when the early returns look small. They look small because they are. The curve is quiet until it is not.

A useful question before changing strategy: are you leaving because the math changed, or because the feeling of waiting became uncomfortable?