What is The 1% Daily Improvement Method?

And How You Can Use It In Your Daily Life To Achieve Your Goals.

The 1% Daily Improvement Method is simply to design your daily activities in a way that you can attain 1% improvement a day in a certain skill.

The idea is that: 1% improvement is very minuscule that it would not require you to climb an uphill steep slope; instead, it feels effortless and not disruptive to your daily routine. Maybe, that is the magic of this special method. You would not feel like you have to do anything extra or put any thought into it; but the result is astounding. A 1% improvement a day would lead to 37 times improvement if practised consistently within a year.

Imagine if you want to improve your health within the next year, this seems like a huge task for most of us. By breaking it down to small tasks and applying the 1% improvement method, this big goal can be simply a 3-minute walk in your room to start with (or whatever you are willing to do at this stage, either 3-minute stretching or simply put on your work-out clothes and shoes and walk outside for 2 minutes).

Commit to walking 3 minutes around your apartment a day (if you dread going outside or even putting on pants, clothes, and shoes), use a phone to track the 3 minutes, and mark the daily effort for one month on a sheet of paper with dates numbered 1 to 30.

After you have done that for a month, you might feel ready to bump it to 5 or 7 minutes depending on your comfort level. Maybe to increase from 3 to 4 minutes is okay, too.

This leads me to the second characteristic of this 1% Daily Improvement method which makes it very effective, it is about the consistency, not the result (yet!). Improving your health is definitely a longer process than just one month or one year, it is likely a life-long goal and journey; so don’t rush, keep tackling the 1% Improvement daily. It is very likely that if you can do 3-minute walk daily, you can bump it to 5, 7, 10, 20 minutes within a few months. This might be time to tackle a slightly bigger task of going outside, for 20 minutes walk.

Remember, if the task is becoming a hassle and you dread doing it and you often break this chain of daily walking, it means you are not ready for such a step-up yet. Stay at your comfort level until you are 100% ready. Keep trucking away and keep tracking.

This method is simple and amazing because you can start with what you have, you don’t have to buy any equipment or extra things; all you need at this stage is pen, paper, a space for walking and your smallest effort. If you prefer tracking your daily walk automatically, use your phone and a free app that tracks your walking time and your step. Slip that phone into your pocket while you walk.

I have mentioned “tracking” too many times, and it is not unintentional. Tracking is powerful, as it triggers the reward cycle in your brain and reinforce the will to complete the activity the next day. When you achieve a task consistently over the course of a month or two months, it is rewarding to look at your tracking sheet and tell your brain how far you have come along! It is this small win that is important, as it demonstrates that you are somewhat closer to your goal and you gain the confidence that you will get there if you continue on this process.

Okay, friends. All I have discussed above can get even easier if you build these small activities into your daily routine.

For example, I want to get healthier and I want to start with walking and take more steps in a day. I am a student so I go to school 5 days a week. So I choose to take the train to school each day, this will push me to walk to the bus + walk from the train station to class (and double that for the way back). Simply by choosing this method of transportation, I am able to clock in 3,000 steps a day. You might say, but I drive to work and I cannot take the train. Well, you can start with what I suggest above, walk around your room, or walk around the office at lunch time, or instead of calling someone, walk over to their office and have a chat, use whatever is most convenient for you at this point in time. Even a walk to a coffee shop to grab coffee counts. Again, start small and keep it simple. Remember there will always be excuses if you want to find one. It is a battle of you against your own will, and no one can help you with that except yourself, unfortunately. When you decide that this matter is within your hands and it is up to you to make it happen, things might look a bit different.

Back to daily routine, your daily routine is amazing at achieving 1% Improvement rule. The book Atomic Habits is great at teaching you how to build and stack positive habits into powerful daily routine that can help you reach your personal and professional goals when you are ready to take on larger challenges.

For now, start with the following framework for your 1% Improvement commitment:

• Picking a Goal: One of the goals that I want to tackle is (fill in).

• Breaking It Down: I can reach this goal by first doing this simple step (fill in).

• Planning/Designing: I think that this activity can be done in combination with (activity X) that I already do right now. Therefore, I will do it (before / during / after) (activity X).

• Tracking: I will do this for the next (number) days which I will track below. (Tracking)
• Reflecting: I feel that this method (is or is not working). I need to (keep going or modify it a bit).
• Modifying: After (number) days, I feel that I am ready for a small step-up (or I am not ready for a step-up yet, I will continue to do the same task for the next (number) days). (Tracking – continue on)

A simple example that I want for myself:

• Picking a Goal: One of the goals that I want to tackle is to drink more water.

• Breaking It Down: I can reach this goal by first doing this simple step: have a water bottle or cup always ready available to me.

• Planning / Designing: I think that this activity can be done in combination with studying that I already do right now. Therefore, I will do it before I study, I will prepare a filled water bottle on my desk.

• Tracking: I will do this for the next 30 days which I will track below.
• Reflecting: I have not been tracking it consistently because I always forget to mark down when I drink. I would be more inclined to track if I have a tracking on my water bottle.
• Modifying: I will continue with the same plan but I will stick a sticky note on my water bottle and mark off each day.

Continue on reflecting and adjusting your plan until it works; there will be a lot of little adjustments that you need until it becomes more smooth such as you forget to fill your water bottle before sitting down to study, or you simply do not have a water bottle at your desk at this time. Take the small steps to designate a bottle for your study desk, nudge yourself to run to the tap to fill it during your break, and remind yourself to reach out to the bottle while you study.

This blog lays out the aspects of the 1% Daily Improvement rule in the most simplest sense and provide you with a simple framework for you to start.

Please share how your journey goes with me, I will keep posting and elaborating on these different aspects in future posts.