Be a One-percent-er
The power of marginal gains
One of my superpowers (me thinks) is my power of observation. I often like to observe things happening in the background and draw insights from them.
I finally downloaded FIFA 23 (a football game for those who don’t know) and my wife was annoyed at the gameplay after one game, she felt she’ll never get used to it. Funnily, this was her first reaction when we played FIFA 22 but she got better with every game. Even when I kept defeating her. From 7-1, 5-2, 4-0, 2-1, 1-1, 3-1 to 1-1, 1-2, 3-2 etc Now she’s gotten better and even defeats her friends when they find time to play.
Here’s why this story is relevant to today’s article - Marginal improvement!
My wife often says this and I’ve made some adjustments to it - the goal of every endeavour is not to succeed at every attempt but to continuously improve towards the desired outcome.
Sir Dave Brailsford, former performance director of British Cycling, believed in the theory of marginal gains.
Brailsford believed that if you make a 1% improvement in a host of tiny areas, the cumulative benefits would be extraordinary.
Target micro-excellence. Take your goal and break it into small functional parts and be 1% better at those various parts every day.
Individually, each incremental improvement may not look like it’s making a dent, but collectively, It’ll shock you how closer those improvements bring you to your goals.
It is a lot easier to focus on manageable improvements where you see specific results than to chase big ideas that may lead nowhere or seem difficult to achieve within a specific period.
Target micro-excellence, target micro-wins, target marginal gains, target 1% improvements per time!
Be a One-percent-er!
Have you caught up on The Grinders Table Podcast? There are a ton of episodes featuring great guests that’ll definitely leave you wiser and smarter.
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