Getting 1% Better

Thanks to the power of compounding, getting just 1% better every week can yield incredible results in the long-term. Thus, we’ll end each week with a 1% better post to share how our weeks went.

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Week 20 of Getting 1% Better

Unlocking the superpower of consistency requires nothing more than consistently doing the small things right – one week and 1% at a time. 

Two weeks ago, I had to travel to Istanbul for a meeting. To put it mildly, travelling is not one of my favorite things, so such trips are always tough. But this time, I was determined to manage my primitive emotions and get the most out of the trip.

This resulted in some reasonably good and productive days during the meeting as well as the two full travelling days there and back. Since the hotel had no piano and a good breakfast buffet, my daily skills training and eating habits were the only aspects of my life that really suffered. 

But the most important benefit from managing my primitive emotions during this trip was the way I could hit the ground running after getting back home. Usually, I need a couple of useless days to recover from such a tiring trip. Not this time. In fact, the week directly following the trip has been one of my best!

You can see the dip during the trip and the strong recovery immediately thereafter in the little red bit at the end of my Graph of Life below. 

All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I've not had a bad or even just an average day for the past year :-)
All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I’ve not had a bad or even just an average day for the past year 🙂

 

So, how was your week? The three simple poll questions below can help you decide. They’re formulated from the understanding that we really only need three things to be happy: good health, a feeling of progress, and positive relationships.

If you ticked any of the top two boxes in all three questions, I’m pretty sure you made your 1% gain this week 🙂

If not, what can you do to make sure next week is better? Resolve to take at least one action to help you make your 1% gain next week. 

How well did you look after yourself this week?
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Do you feel that you made progress this week?
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How do you feel about your relationships and general human interactions?
Vote
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Week 16 of Getting 1% Better

The superpower of consistency is all about doing the small things right day after day to invite the awesome force of compounding into our lives. No miracles required – just some tiny victories week after week. 

Over the last two weeks, I was tested by some pretty serious neck pain. Seems like, after all these years, I still haven’t learnt to sleep in the correct position 🙂

This persistent pain caused my Graph of Life to lose some momentum (the red bit below). But the important thing is that it didn’t start falling.

All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I've not had a bad or even just an average day for the past 12 months :-)
All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I’ve not had a bad or even just an average day for the past 12 months 🙂

 

So, how was your week? Answer the three simple question below to find out. Good health, a sense of progress and positive relationships really are all we need for a good life. 

If you ticked any of the top two boxes in all three questions, I’m pretty sure you made your 1% gain this week 🙂

If not, what can you do to make sure next week is better? Resolve to take at least one action to help you make your 1% gain next week. 

How well did you look after yourself this week?
Vote

Do you feel that you made progress this week?
Vote

How do you feel about your relationships and general human interactions?
Vote
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Week 12 of Getting 1% Better

This week’s weather was terrible, even by Norwegian standards. But luckily, that did not stop me from having a great week 🙂 You can see the healthy upwards trend in the little red bit at the end of my Graph of Life below. 

Thanks to my data obsession, I’ve been logging a subjective score of the weather on my Graph of Life for about nine months now. From these 270 data points, I can now confidently say that the quality of my day is completely immune to changes in the weather.

Weather is probably the most complained about thing in Norway, so I was very happy to see this. It’s certainly useful to be unaffected by things we have no control over, such as bad weather, stupid politicians, or the bad performance of your favorite sports team. 

All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I've not had a bad or even just an average day for the past 11 months :-)
All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I’ve not had a bad or even just an average day for the past 11 months 🙂

 

So, how was your week? Did you manage to look after your health, make some good personal and professional progress, and nurture your relationships? If so, you probably made your 1% gain this week 🙂

If not, what can you improve? Could it help to spend less mental energy on things like the weather that are totally outside your control?  

Finally, this month’s experiment of bringing back weekend posts did not make much difference. So, hopefully for the last time, weekend posts will now be removed again. 

How well did you look after yourself this week?
Vote

Do you feel that you made progress this week?
Vote

How do you feel about your relationships and general human interactions?
Vote
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Week 11 of Getting 1% Better

Another week, another 1% improvement 🙂 It wasn’t all plain sailing, but after after a little dip last weekend, my week once again finished strong (see the little red bit at the end of my Graph of Life below). 

All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I've not had a bad or even just an average day for the past 11 months :-)
All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I’ve not had a bad or even just an average day for the past 11 months 🙂

 

So, how was your week? Answer the three simple questions below for a quick check. 

If you ticked any of the top two boxes in all three questions, I’m pretty sure you made your 1% gain this week 🙂

If not, have a little think about possible areas of improvement? Resolve to take at least one action to help you make your 1% gain next week. Every 1% counts!

How well did you look after yourself this week?
Vote

Do you feel that you made progress this week?
Vote

How do you feel about your relationships and general human interactions?
Vote
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Week 10 of Getting 1% Better

Another week, another 1% improvement, another tiny little exponential gain through the awesome force of compounding 🙂 

This was one of my more productive weeks. I invested a good 90 hours into productive activities, but still managed to sleep well, ensuring that I feel as fresh now as I did at the start of the week. The little red bit at the end of my Graph of Life below shows the healthy upwards trajectory over the past week. 

All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I've not had a bad or even just an average day for the past 11 months :-)
All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I’ve not had a bad or even just an average day for the past 11 months 🙂

 

Did you have a good week too? Answer the three simple questions below to find out. If you answered any of the top two boxes for all three questions, chances are that you made your 1% gain this week 🙂

If it was not such a great week, think about what you can learn from the experience and then resolve to put it behind you. Any proactive actions you can take to ensure that you make your 1% gain next week? 

How well did you look after yourself this week?
Vote

Do you feel that you made progress this week?
Vote

How do you feel about your relationships and general human interactions?
Vote
Schalk
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Week 9 of Getting 1% Better

The superpower of consistency is all about doing the small things right day after day to invite the awesome force of compounding into our lives. We simply need to take it one week and 1% at a time. 

For me, it was a pretty good week. I had a little stumble over a couple of half-price chocolates at the start of the week, but recovered nicely afterwards. You can see the dip and recovery in the little red bit at the end of my Graph of Life below. 

All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I've not had a bad or even just an average day for the past 11 months :-)
All you need to know about this graph is that it heads upwards if I have a great day and downwards if the day is just good. I’ve not had a bad or even just an average day for the past 11 months 🙂

 

So, how was your week? The three simple poll questions below can help you decide. They’re formulated from the understanding that we really only need three things to be happy: good health, a feeling of progress, and positive relationships.

If you ticked any of the top two boxes in all three questions, I’m pretty sure you made your 1% gain this week 🙂

If not, what can you do to make sure next week is better? Resolve to take at least one action to help you make your 1% gain next week. 

How well did you look after yourself this week?
Vote

Do you feel that you made progress this week?
Vote

How do you feel about your relationships and general human interactions?
Vote
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Week 3 of Getting 1% Better

The 1% better philosophy is built on the power of compounding. Tiny gains made with great regularity tend to accumulate exponentially over the years. This is the superpower of consistency in action. 

Mastering this superpower is what this blog is all about. 

Here are my top three 1% improvements over the past week:

  1. Most of my week was dedicated to writing my first paper on energy system modelling. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for years, but I only recently managed to get the contacts, software and expertise to actually do it.
  2. Another 32 km of rollerblading and near-perfectly clean eating habits.
  3. A rapid and complete recovery after the sporting gods tried their very best to spoil my week. 

Although point 1 certainly represents my most important progress this week, point 3 is also noteworthy. 

Indeed, last Sunday was one of the most disappointing sporting weekends ever. First, Ferrari were totally outclassed by Mercedes at the British F1 race. This was somewhat expected, so it wasn’t all that bad. 

But then came the double whammy. First, Roger Federer managed to win every stat apart from the final score in the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic. After a tortuous four hours, he finally earned himself two championship points on serve and then proceeded to lose four points in a row. Eventually Novak managed to force a third tie-break, where he showcased his inhuman big-match temperament and took the title.

In parallel, New Zealand were playing England in the cricket world cup final. I really wanted New Zealand to win, but they managed to draw not once, but twice, and then lose the world cup on a technicality. A draw in cricket is highly unlikely and doing it twice in a row is unheard of. In addition, England just managed to reach the first draw based on one of the biggest pieces of luck I ever saw on the third-last ball of the innings. 

These sporting dramas not only led to huge frustration, but also ate up a lot of time. But I managed to shake it off, realize that the world is still turning and start another highly productive week (see the red bit in my consistency graph below). 

Yes, life will always have its bad days. The key is simply to get back to growth ASAP and to avoid a multi-day slump at any cost.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and see you tomorrow!

The graph shows my cumulative performance against a target of 35 points daily. Until recently, I’ve only been averaging a bit more than 33 points per day, hence the slow downwards trend. 33 points per day is still good, but I really want to get back above the 35 point target! Almost there… 🙂
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Week 2 of Getting 1% Better

People tend to overestimate what they can do in a day or a week, but underestimate what they can do in a year or a decade. 

That pretty much sums up the whole 1% better philosophy. 

The fact of the matter is that the magic of consistency happens slowly, painfully slowly at times. As a result, most people give up before seeing any meaningful results. 

Our mission on this blog is simply to keep on doing the small things right, day after day, week after week. Such consistent positive action is guaranteed to deliver great results in the long run. 

Here are my top three 1% improvements over the past week:

  • We got two peer-reviewed papers accepted in high-ranking journals. This is a rare privilege indeed 🙂
  • I started an important collaboration to bring specialized expertise about advanced gas turbines into our research work. 
  • Thanks to some good weather (finally), I managed 36 km of rollerblading this week. 

My daily consistency tracker (below) continued upwards, although at a slightly lower pace than last week. Still a very satisfying week though. 

So, did you grow your 1% this week? I really hope so!

See you tomorrow!

The graph shows my cumulative performance against a target of 35 points daily. Until recently, I’ve only been averaging a bit more than 33 points per day, hence the slow downwards trend. 33 points per day is still good, but I really want to get back above the 35 point target! A couple more weeks like this one should do the trick 🙂
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Week 1 of Getting 1% Better

A 1% improvement sounds like nothing, right? Anyone could become 1% better in a week if they tried. 

However, when you unleash the superpower of consistency on this simple idea, it takes on a whole new form. The numbers tell the story:

  • Improve by 1% every week for a year and you’ll be 66% better. Not bad.
  • 2 years? 179%.
  • 5 years? Thanks to the power of compounding, 5 years of 1% weekly improvements will make you a whopping 13 times better!
  • After 15 years (only a third of a standard career), it gets pretty ridiculous: 2325 times better! Now we are getting to the realm of billionaires, presidents and great inventors. 

These numbers told me to end each Supermorning week with a 1% improvement post. So, here are my top 3 improvements over the past week:

  1. Started this blog and kept to my daily post commitment
  2. Totally clean eating habits and 10 hours of light-to-moderate exercise
  3. Published an article in the largest publication on Medium

In fact, this week was much more than 1% improvement 🙂 You can see the sharp upwards spike in my daily consistency data below (the little red bit). I really hope I can maintain this performance!

Did you grow your 1% this week? Any plans for how you can grow 1% next week? Feel free to share – a little commitment here could make a big difference!

The graph shows my cumulative performance against a target of 35 points daily. Up to now, I have only been averaging a bit more than 33 points per day, hence the slow downwards trend. 33 points per day is still good, but I really want to get back above the 35 point target!