Do You Know What It Takes to Get a 1% Improvement?
not much???
Goal: Discuss the idea of getting a 1% improvement
Imagine that you can run 10 miles in one hour. That means that you you run a 6 minute mile. That is 6*60seconds=360 seconds.
What is a 1% improvement?
It is a reduction of .01*360seconds=3.6 seconds. Let us round it up to 4 seconds. That means you need to take off 4 seconds for each one of the 10 miles. 24 seconds total.
Is it doable? Probably BUT you have to want it bad enough.
Have you ever heard of Roger Bannister?
Roger Bannister was the first person who ran a sub 4 minute mile. Before Roger it was believed that a person’s heart would burst if a person ran below 4 minute mile.
In 1952 Roger did it and lived. Amazingly within a year a ton of people were able to do the same. Current record which was set in 1999 is 3 minutes and 43 seconds. After 47 years, there was a 17 seconds improvement. That is 17 out of 240 seconds or 7.08% improvement in almost 50 years.
Sometimes things that look Impossible become I’mpossible and eventually I’m possible.
So 1% improvement doesn’t seem like much BUT we have all failed at small improvements. It is not easy but can be made possible.
How?
1% change in most things, like running distance, is not that hard. It just requires one to set their mind to that task, believe it to be possible and then execute. Consider the result you get and then consider what you can do to get a better result that is closer to the 1% improvement.
Ok… but most of us are not runners.
This idea of 1% improvement is not limited to running. It should be a part of your life. How do you become a better employee, better boss, better husband, better dad, better mom, etc.. all can be thought through and improved by 1%.
BUT what is the ultimate destination?
Consider if you improved everything in your life by 1% every week for a year. That could be calculated as (1.01)⁵²= 1.677. In other words, you will be about 68% better than you were a year ago.
WOW!!! So that 60 minute 10 minute run becomes 60/1.677=35.76 minutes.
I recently wrote about working to develop an app. I have actually developed 4 apps since last Friday. They are all working but need improvement. Every day I ask myself how to nudge them towards a better result. It might be changing a color. It might be adding another tab. Whatever it takes to make them 1% better. That is continuous improvement.
It is the push to improve that will eventfully lead me to a place where I can develop excellent apps quickly. This is a skill that will hopefully lead to a great side business if not my main business. Who knows!!!!
The point of this article, if you have not figured it out by now, is to push yourself a little each day. To drive yourself to get 1% better in all aspects of your life.
Make it a game. The 1% game. The 1% challenge.
My seven cents….(this is what I earned from Medium.com for Nov. 2020)
I got to go…my future self alarm went off
Robert Trajkovski is professional with experience in leading people and projects in Steel/ Power, Refining, Chemicals, Industrial Gasses, Software, Consulting and Academia. He has worked for both owners and engineering companies. In addition, he has instructed 73+ courses at several institutions and often offers his courses for free on LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/roberttrajkovski/
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