1% improvement

Schalk
, ,
0

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?
Vote

Do you feel that you made progress this week?
Vote

How do you feel about your relationships and general human interactions?
Vote
Schalk
, , , ,
2

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 🙂