The 1% Rule: How To Get Better At Everything
Continuous improvement is something that we all strive for. What if there was a way to consistently enhance our skills in every aspect of our lives, from work to leisure and everything in between?
JOHN NICHOLS
NOVEMBER 6, 2020
No matter our place in life, we all want to improve, move forwards and reach greater heights. We all have dream goals that we would love to make a reality, but they often seem so far away as to be unachievable.
Here is where the 1% rule steps in. This can make those faraway goals all the more achievable, and you will be surprised at what you can achieve once you incorporate this approach into your life.
What is the 1% Rule?
It is as simple as it sounds. The 1% rule is a catch-all term for the approach of improving by just 1% every time a task is attempted.
For example, let’s say you would like to improve your long-distance cycling ability. On Day 1, it takes you 5 hours to travel 100 miles. Let’s aim to go 1% faster – on Day 2, you should aim to reach 100 miles in 4hr 57min.
This seems like a very small improvement, but if you aim to go 1% faster every day, by Day 10, you should be able to reach 100 miles in 4hr 30min – a 30min improvement in just ten days.
Alternatively, let’s aim to go 1% further every day. Using the same example, by Day 10, we would reach 110 miles in 5 hours.
By focusing on regular, small improvements, you are able to obtain a consistent feeling of accomplishment without trying to take a big leap in one go, which can easily lead to feeling frustrated. Over time, these small improvements lead to big results!
Sounds exciting, but limited...
The strength of the 1% rule lies in its flexibility, as it can be applied in any area. Using the cycling example, you could switch between distance and time on a daily basis, or even incorporate other, more obscure metrics, such as how your legs feel afterwards, or your general level of fatigue.
It doesn’t just apply to quantitative tasks either. Let’s look at general guitar playing. If your aim is to be the next Tim Henson, and you currently don’t know the difference between a fret and a pickup, the 1% rule is a brilliant way to break down a long journey into actionable steps.
On Day 1, let’s focus on simple chords. A few days later, let’s switch to scales. Then, to learning a song. Over time, you’ll build your general playing ability up, and if you stick to 1% every day over a long period of time, you might just become the next guitar god!
Thinking outside the box, the 1% rule can be applied to areas with more abstract metrics, such as social interactions, selflessness and more philosophical concepts such as cognitive empathy.
So long as you keep the 1% rule in mind, you will always be on the path of improvement.
Has It Worked For Others?
The 1% rule derives from a very similar business philosophy.
Kaizen, a Japanese term which is often interpreted to mean ‘continuous improvement’, is the attitude of small, daily improvements, rather than large, radical change, to hit ambitious goals.
It relies on a cyclical process of planning, execution, analysis and evaluation, enacted on an extremely rapid, continuous basis.
Toyota is synonymous with Kaizen practices. A major aspect of the fabled ‘Toyota Way’, it’s so ingrained into their culture that if there is an abnormality on the production line, all line personnel immediately stop working to discuss ways to resolve the situation and prevent it from happening again.
This Kaizen culture shaped Toyota into the world’s largest car manufacturer, as well as one of the top-ten biggest companies in the world. A forward-thinking giant of industry, Toyota continues to harness Kaizen principles to great affect across all levels of the business.
Has It Worked For You?
Yes! I have used the 1% rule in multiple areas of my life, especially recently.
I’ve been working on my guitar-playing a few times a week, with the ultimate goal of striking a goal off my Impossible List – to be able to play the lead guitar here.
I am a very, very long way away, but even with a bit of practice a few times a week, incorporating the 1% rule, I am inching closer every time I pick up my guitar.
I also use the 1% rule with respects to this blog! With each entry, I try to improve in a certain aspect, whether that be layout, imagery, quality of the copy or something else entirely. Since first uploading to this blog, I’ve certainly seen an improvement in my writing ability, and I’m sure this is set to continue!
As with any productivity rule, this only works if you have the discipline to stick to it. Discipline is a whole other topic, and something I’ll cover in more depth in the future, but long story short, keep your long-term goal in mind, and if you are sufficiently motivated to achieve it, the discipline will come.
The beauty of it for me is that it works irrespective of my mood. I could be having a great day, I could be having a terrible day, but so long as I stick to the 1% rule, I will see steady, long-term improvement.
Final Thoughts
The 1% rule is an incredibly basic notion, but has the potential to transform your approach to learning, progression and improving your skills. Using it to break down long-term goals into smaller targets is incredibly powerful, and through discipline and persistence, anything can be achieved (within reason, of course).
My advice would be to start small, with a single skill. See how it goes, and if it works for you, expand it into other aspects of your life. Before you know it, you’ll be making headways like never before!
Published November 6, 2020. Cover image by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.