The Power of Incremental Improvement: How 1% Gains Lead to Extraordinary Success

In 2021, Michael A. Dunn shared the following story about how choosing to improve incrementally over time increases outcomes astronomically. Rather than making huge changes to our lives or habits and behaviors, and failing because it’s often too difficult to achieve if we choose to make small changes in needed areas over time, we find more success.

“For more than a century, the national bicycle racing teams of Great Britain had been the laughingstock of the cycling world. Mired in mediocrity, British riders had managed only a handful of gold medals in 100 years of Olympic competitions and had been even more underwhelming in cycling’s marquee event, the three-week long Tour de France—where no British rider had prevailed in 110 years. So sorry was the plight of British riders that some bike manufacturers refused to even sell bikes to the Brits, fearing it would forever sully their hard-won reputations. And despite devoting enormous resources into cutting-edge technology and every newfangled training regimen, nothing worked.

British cyclists

Nothing, that is, until 2003, when a small, largely unnoticed change occurred that would forever alter the trajectory of British cycling. That new approach would also reveal [an effective principle] regarding our ofttimes perplexing [human] quest to improve ourselves. So, what happened in British cycling that has great relevance to our personal pursuit to be better?”

In 2003, Sir Dave Brailsford was hired. Unlike previous coaches who attempted dramatic, overnight turnarounds, Sir Brailsford instead committed to a strategy he referred to as ‘the aggregation of marginal gains.’ This entailed implementing small improvements in everything. That meant constantly measuring key statistics and targeting specific weaknesses.

This broader, more holistic view avoids the trap of being myopically fixated on just the obvious problem at hand. Said Brailsford, ‘The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1 percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.’

Instead of trying to perfect everything, what if we tackled just one thing?

Could aggregating small but steady marginal gains in our lives finally be the way to victory over even the most pesky of our personal shortcomings? Can this bite-sized approach to tackling our blemishes really work?

Well, acclaimed author James Clear says this strategy puts the math squarely in our favor. He maintains that “habits are the ‘compound interest of self-improvement.’ If you can get just one percent better at something each day, by the end of a year … you will be 37 times better.”

Brailsford’s small gains began with the obvious, such as equipment, kit fabrics, and training patterns. But his team didn’t stop there. They continued to find 1 percent improvements in overlooked and unexpected areas such as nutrition and even maintenance nuances. Over time, these myriads of micro-betterments aggregated into stunning results, which came faster than anyone could have imagined.

Consider what’s happened to British cycling in the past two decades since implementing this philosophy. British cyclists have now won the storied Tour de France an astonishing six times. During the past four Olympic Games, Great Britain has been the most successful country across all cycling disciplines. And in the [2020] Tokyo Olympics, the UK won more gold medals in cycling than any other country,” finished Dunn.

What, then, can we learn from the principle of ONE PERCENT BETTER and how can applying it in our lives help us achieve success?

Let’s say you, or a child, is struggling to learn and apply new skills in managing emotions or anxiety triggers? What if you are striving to overcome childhood abuse, domestic violence, or grief? So many times, we believe that we “should be over it by now” and we are not. Therefore, we believe something must be wrong with us, with the process, or with the therapist/spouse/kids/family/etc. Right?! Wrong?!

These things take time . . . and lots of PRACTICE. Or in other words, it often happens just one percent at a time, over time.

What tools can we gain from this story?

  1. Cutting edge technology and newfangled fads aren’t the best ways to create lasting change
  2. Don’t attempt dramatic, overnight turnarounds – it can be overwhelming and often shuts us down or shuts down our progress, and it just isn’t how humans process, heal, or learn
  3. Don’t focus only on the obvious problems – find out what’s behind the behavior, emotion, or response and work on that aspect
  4. Implement small improvements in multiple areas choosing what, and how much, is manageable for YOU
  5. Consistently measure key points – make tweaks to skills, processes, etc. as needed
  6. Target specific weaknesses – yet, don’t focus just on those
  7. Break down what goes into the situation (responses, memories, triggers, etc.) and improve just one percent
  8. Instead of trying to perfect (or fix) everything, just tackle ONE thing
  9. Small and steady leads to better, more long-term, outcomes
  10. Look for areas of improvement in overlooked and unexpected areas
  11. Practice makes permanent – the more you practice healthy behaviors and responses the more permanent those become in your life

ACTION:

Try implementing the principle of ONE PERCENT BETTER by reviewing what is going on in your life and what you would like to be different. Choose at least one area you want to improve and find a simple – one percent – change you can begin making. This might be adding one more serving of vegetables each day, parking farther from the grocery store door to get in more steps, going to bed 15 minutes earlier than usual, taking a pause before responding when emotions start to rise, or changing one negative self-talk into a positive.

It may feel like nothing is changing for a while. I hear a lot of parents say their kids are still having “meltdowns.” Of course they are! They are human and have bad days, just like adults, and they need TIME to practice and implement new, healthier behaviors.

Nevertheless, when assessing progress look for frequency, duration and intensity. Are the meltdowns as often, as long, or as intense? No. Then this is progress. There will begin to be more time between meltdowns, children will recover more quickly, and meltdowns will be less intense. This can also be applied to moments of grief, abuse triggers, or any number of other situations. Progress occurs over time – ONE PERCENT BETTER every day, week, or hour.

Then, CELEBRATE the successes. “I went all day without being triggered (or even just the last hour).” “My kid didn’t have a meltdown for three weeks.” “I was able to manage my anxiety without getting overwhelmed 8x out of 10x this week.” These are all signs of improvement. Notice and keep striving to improve just one percent more and soon you can look back and really notice the changes you have made (or your child has made) over time! It’s exciting!