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It's All About 1%, Baby

Updated: Dec 2, 2022

So, the power of 1% improvement. Is this a real thing or just a big pain?


I read James Clear's Atomic Habits many years ago. Phenomenal book! James' premise is that we focus a lot of energy on achieving goals instead of focusing energy on daily habits that ensure those goals are met. In a nutshell, it's important to have goals and doubly important to have habits that support those goals.


When setting goals, there is typically one goal that is the culmination of work over a time period. That work is divided into strategies and tactics (actions). Strategies are ways to reach the goal. Tactics are the habits we follow to successfully fulfill the strategy.


A quick example of a goal:



With credit to Chris Sanders and Joseph Mateo, The Art of Disney: the Renaissance and Beyond.

Mulan's goal is to bring honor to her family. In this picture we see the result of Mulan's actions. Her goal is achieved.



Throughout the movie, despite her actions that might say otherwise, she had a strong commitment to being the type of daughter who would bring honor to her family. She achieved that goal in a non-traditional way.


Here's what her strategy was:


With credit to Mark Henn. The Art of Disney: the Renaissance and Beyond.

Mulan becomes a warrior. To reach that level of warrior she had to develop the skills that are outside of her immediate skill set.


These skills included being able to shoot an arrow, be strong enough and quick enough to be competitive on the battlefield and to be a strategic thinker under fire.


Much hilarity ensues while Mulan learns how to be a warrior. Learning those skills required the development of good habits: attentiveness, healthy breakfasts, strength exercises, learning to work as part of a team; these are some of the habits Mulan begins to follow every day.


When setting your primary goal for the year, choose one that is your overarching focus. This goal should be stable and inflexible.


When setting strategies, think through how you can best achieve your goal and devise two or three strategies to meet the goal. This can be flexible and should be reviewed every 90 days.


To support the strategies, each strategy must have tactics/actions/habits that you incorporate into your daily approach. These should also be reviewed on a regular basis to be sure that the habits, often annoying, are completed or tweaked so that they become easier to incorporate into each day.


Good growth rarely happens overnight. It is often the dedication to those tiny steps, that 1% improvement everyday that culminates in growth and achievement. It's difficult to change your body overnight, to suddenly become a market leader, to build an effective team, to become a better listener. By incorporating small habits that support you strategies and goals into your everyday life you'll find that over time you are exactly where you wanted to be.

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