1% Factor

She kept throwing all the food on the ground.  I was 24 and bought two tuna melt sandwiches for us to have lunch outside in the nearby park – because it was a nice day. 

Tuna melt, that was the way I rolled.

We were arguing. She took a sandwich out of my hands and threw it all over the ground. Tuna everywhere.

I bet the Old Man and the sea never knew he was catching tuna so it could lie dead in pieces in the grass because of an ex.

If I could say “Advice to myself at 21” would I avoid her? Of course not. Without her, maybe only now would I be with a woman who threw my food everywhere.

I gradually started improving what my line was in terms of what I could handle.

“I don’t want someone who throws my food everywhere”. This became rule #1.

Over the next 20 years I felt I got better and better. Sometimes I slipped. But mostly I got better.

But it took 12 years.

I wish I could go back and tell myself one thing: nothing is going to change for you tomorrow.

Diets don’t work tomorrow. But every diet works.

Habits don’t change in a day. But 1% a day makes every habit work. Every.

The reason is: they work if you do a little each day. If you relax and give yourself permission to only improve a little each day, then a good habit works.

It’s permission to improve. It’s also permission to fail. Because when you first start something, you’re on day one.

If you want to succeed at anything, you have to give yourself permission to fail twice as much as you thought you would.

If you insist, I need to change RIGHT NOW, then it won’t work. Nothing changes until something changes.

If you insist the habit changes tomorrow, then the habit will certainly fail.

Coolio, the rapper, wrote lyrics every day for 17 years before having a hit.

Kobe Bryant, one of basketball’s greatest, practiced three hours of basic skills every day (since he was four) before he ever picked up a basketball. Basic.

Kurt Vonnegut wrote every day for 25 years before he had a major bestseller.

Even Mozart, despite being a prodigy, wrote music for 10 years every day before becoming a true master.

 Improve a little each day. It compounds. When 1% compounds every day, it doubles every 72 days, not every 100 days. Compounding tiny excellence is what creates big excellence.

You can’t be a master in one day. You have to improve a little every day.

Picasso created 2 works of art a day. That’s 50,000 in a lifetime. It adds up.

“I’m too far down the road to start this now?”  Nope. Compounding creates fast results.

If I read 5 pages a day from non-fiction books, then in a year I will have read 1830 pages of knowledge. And each page I read will build upon the pages I’ve read before.

And it’s 1830 pages 99% of people won’t read. Most people don’t pick up a book after age 20.

If I write 1000 words a day, then in one day that’s nothing. In one year that’s the equivalent of 6-8 novels.

Also you can also decrease 1% a day. Such an easy choice. It seems trivial. 1% up or 1% down. But it sneaks up. And then we’re old and lonely.

Every day matters.

When I was at the lowest phase of life, and spending time with the wrong people, it was because I never had a mindset of growth and continuous improvement.

The 1% Rule can be applied to everything. If I spend 1 less minute feeling regret and use that to feel gratitude, how much better for my stress levels will that be in one year’s time.

Stress is 100% reverse correlated with longer healthier happier life. With more money. With more love. With more creativity.

Every habit can be built using this technique.

Thoughts are in the head. Thinking, “this seems like a good habit” is a start. Reading about it is a second start. But…

Actions are outside of the head or body. Take 1% action per day.

More than that and you’ll give-up (“diets don’t work!”). Less than that and it might take too long (“diets don’t work!”).

It doesn’t happen in one day. There are no goals. There’s only practice. Practice never makes progress. Practice makes happy. Practice makes habits.

I started writing on my own just a few years ago. Every day I read a little. Every day I wrote. I wanted to get better.

I was very bad at the beginning.

•  Can I read a little more

• Can I write a little better

• Can I run and exercise a little more

• Can I improve my relationships a little more

• Can I be more present – standing where my feet are

 Unless someone throws a tuna melt sandwich at me today, it will be a great day, 1% better than yesterday.