1% Better Everyday and Why It Works

These days motivation comes a little harder for everyone. We all have a tendency to convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action. Instead, it is the small wins or loses that shape our future. As you’ve probably heard from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos,

All overnight success takes about 10 years.

This is why the concept of 1% better everyday from “Atomic Habits” by James Clear really resonated with me. It is formally known as Theory of Marginal Gains. At times such as today, feeling overwhelmed had become the new norm and especially for those trying to salvage their business or career. This concept gives faith that even with slightest improvement every day we can achieve success. After all, success is the product of daily habits— not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.

Think of habits are the compound interest of self-improvement! For example, if you can get just 1% better each day, you’ll end up with results that are nearly 37x better after one year.

The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps 10 years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent.

This concept can be especially seen in the incredible transformation of British Cycling Team when Sir Dave Brailsford became the coach in 2002. The team had almost no record of success: British cycling had only won a single gold medal in its 76-year history. That quickly changed under him leadership. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, his squad won seven out of 10 gold medals available in track cycling, and they matched the achievement at the London Olympics four years later. Sir Dave now leads Britain’s first ever professional cycling team, which has won three of the last four Tour de France events.

Read more of an interview with Sir Dave in “How 1% Performance Improvements Lead to Olympic Gold” article from Harvard Business Review.

Not every day will be a winning one but perhaps striving to be 1% better is an attainable goal for every day.

With Love…

Marta