Getting 1% better every day means making small, daily efforts to move closer to your goals, whether that’s becoming a better version of yourself or working toward an achievement. It can be as small as going for a walk in the afternoon or being more aware of your thoughts throughout the day. Over time, everything becomes a habit; you get to decide if you are building good habits that get you closer to what you want, or if you’re building habits that aren’t aligned.
What Does “1% Better” Actually Mean?
Take stock of where you’re at in your life right now. Do you have the life you want? If not, in what ways do you want it to change? That’s where 1% better starts.
It’s not about the math. Admittedly, I’m not very good at math, and at first I thought this meant that in 100 days I’d be a wholly new person, but that’s not how percentages work. The 1% is incremental, meaning that you try to be 1% better today than yesterday, not as a whole. But really, the 1% is just a squishy metric; there’s no clear way to measure 1% that works for everyone. Instead, think of being 1% better as a guideline. You just want to be a little bit better of a person today than you were yesterday.
We make about 35,000 decisions every day; some of them are more consequential than others. So, how can you take a small fraction of those and make conscious choices to move towards the version of yourself and your life that you want?
Why Small Improvements Feel More Sustainable
When we take on a big project, it can often feel out of reach, but small, incremental changes help work towards that final product. Let’s pretend you bought a shelving unit at IKEA. You don’t build the whole unit in one step. You do it one screw at a time. Or think about a work of art. It doesn’t start off looking like the finished product; in fact, it often looks very unlike what the artist presents at the end.
Sometimes, it can be discouraging to look at where we want to end up and wonder when we’ll arrive.
For example, I write books, and I’ve always wanted a bookshelf full of books I’ve written. But when I’d only written one book, that goal felt impossibly far away. Writing books is hard and time-consuming. I didn’t think I’d ever get there. But as time passed, I continued writing, and now I have 10 of my own books sitting on my shelf. It’s not a full bookshelf, but it shows how all those days of clocking in to write even 200 words at a time have moved me closer to my lifelong dream and made me a better, more confident writer in the process.
Whatever it is you want to do or have, hold it in your mind as something to work towards, but remember that what’s most important are the little steps you take along the way.
Does 1% Better Literally Compound?
1% compounds differently depending on your goals. Maybe you want to feel less stressed, so you start by simply being aware of your thoughts throughout the day. You notice what triggers your stress, what helps it dissipate, and when you feel good. Then you try to manage your stressors. In a few months, you feel much better than you did when you started this awareness practice. You’ll notice, in this example, you’re not cured of stress; life isn’t about ridding ourselves of one thing or another. Think of your benchmarks as making progress on a journey with no end.
Life is comprised of a lot of side quests, and these require different things of us. Maybe you wanted to be the richest CEO in the world when you were younger, but then you had a child and realized that being the best dad in the world is far more important to you now.
Be clear with yourself about what you want to be 1% better at, but be flexible when life turns your path in a different direction. Sometimes, the best way to be 1% better is to be open to embracing something different, something unknown.
What Counts as a 1% Improvement?
You decide what 1% is, but you can make a tracker or do other things to help you be consistent. As mentioned above, there are thousands of opportunities to make decisions every day. You get to choose what that looks like for you.
For example, going to bed earlier instead of mindlessly scrolling or watching TV is only one decision, but the weight of it is huge for your mental and physical health. So you don’t need to make thousands of conscious decisions that add up to 1% of your decisions for the day.
How to Start Today
Pick one thing you want to work on today. Maybe it’s being more patient. Maybe it’s working on a project for 30 minutes. Maybe it’s being a better listener. The opportunities are endless, and it doesn’t have to be some big, immediately life-changing thing. The point is to decide and to do it.
You are only in competition with yourself; no one else. So what 1% looks like is completely up to you. The key is to remember that you are making choices to affect your life in a positive way.
Remember, you are only in competition with yourself; no one else. So what 1% looks like is completely up to you. The key is to remember that you are making choices that affect your life in a positive way.
Key takeaways
1. Becoming 1% better is about small, incremental changes that affect your life in a positive way.
2. Your goals can change over time, and that’s to be expected. It’s the journey of life. Be flexible with yourself and recalibrate the ways you do or don’t want to improve based on these changes.
3. Becoming 1% better doesn’t always have to be something you do; maybe it’s something you take away, like saying “No” more often if you overextend yourself.
