Goals. We set many of them but hardly achieve any.
We often set out with highly ambitious goals, thinking we have to make radical changes in our lives to achieve great things. However, the daunting prospect of making major changes to our lives place unnecessary stress upon ourselves. In the end, we take no action at all.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Instead of striving for huge improvements, what we should do instead is to improve ourselves 1% at a time.
British Cycling: From mediocrity to dominance
Throughout history, British cycling had always been subpar. Not a single British cyclist had won the Tour de France in 110 years. British cycling had only clinched a single Olympiad gold medal in the cycling events since 1908. In fact, British cycling was so atrocious that most of Europe’s top bike manufacturers had refused to supply the team with bikes, for fear of the public associating their companies with the team’s poor standing.
That all changed in 2004 when Sir Dave Brailsford was appointed as performance director of British cycling.
Brailsford was faced with a monumental task: To reinvent British cycling. Many coaches before had tried but failed. But Brailsford was clearly different with his approach. He worked to improve the team based on his philosophy he called “the aggregation of marginal gains”. Brailsford believed if he identified all the factors that goes into riding a bike and improved each factor by 1%, there would be tremendous improvement when put together.
Brailsford and his team made many minute adjustments as expected of professional cycling teams. They adjusted the bicycle seats to make it more comfortable. They rubbed alcohol on the bicycle tyres for better grip. The team also tested various cycling suits made with different fabrics to see which proved to be the most aerodynamic.
Brailsford and his team did not simply stop there. They went beyond and made adjustments to novel areas that appear seemingly unrelated to competitive cycling. The team invited a surgeon to teach the members proper hand-washing techniques to prevent them from falling ill. They also had the team bring their own mattresses and pillows along to ensure they slept with the same posture each night.
On its own, each change made was certainly insignificant. However, the accumulation of many of these minute changes lead British cycling to dominate the competition in the years to come. In the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 60 percent of the medals in the cycling events were won by the British team. Four years later, the team set a total of 9 Olympic records and 7 world records at the Olympic Games held in London. That same year, Bradley Wiggins brought the Tour de France trophy home for the first time in 110 years. The following year, British cyclist Chris Froome won the same competition and proceeded to win again in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
How the 1% principle can be applied to ourselves
The one percent principle is not limited solely to sports, but can be applied to all aspects of life. Whether it is your relationships, your career or your health, the principle can always be applied. It is important to note however is that abiding by this principle would not instantly lead to success. In fact, when Brailsford took over as program director of British cycling, their initial races were often below expectations. Wrong adjustments could be made or the focus is on the wrong areas, leading to subpar performances. What is key is to constantly learn from your mistakes and consistently look for areas to improve.
Math tells us that if you make a 1% improvement each day for a year, this leads to a significant improvement of 37.8%! The math certainly does not lie.
Here are 3 examples of incorporating the 1% principle to our lives:
- Picking up a new skill: With the rise of online learning services such as Udemy, Coursera and Skillshare over the years, it is possible to learn at any place and at any time. These platforms offer a wide variety of classes to choose from, teaching subjects from cooking to argumentation skills. According to statista.com, we spend on average 145 minutes a day on social media platforms. If we spend 30 minutes each day (a mere fraction of what we spend on social media) for a year attending a course/ multiple courses online, you can be sure you to see tremendous improvement on the journey to mastery.
- Obtaining better grades in school: Students often equate putting more time to studying to achieving better results. However, there are certainly other seemingly unrelated factors that can be improved to see better results. For example, one area students can consider improving is their sleep. Studies have shown if people get 7 hours of quality sleep each night at the same time, they often have improved memory retention.
- Being a better friend/family member/partner: We often can take our relationships for granted and do not express the appreciation we have for the people around us. Each week, take a moment to appreciate the people around you. Whether it is asking your dad how was his day, buying a gift for your friend or complimenting your partner, all these small gestures go a long way in establishing a fulfilling relationship that would last.
In short, when setting a goal, identify the various areas that aid in the accomplishment of the goal and consistently make small actionable improvements to these areas. The results would naturally take care of themselves.
What do you want to improve by 1% each day?