To Become 1 % Better Every Day Is the Only Thing You Need
“If you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.”
This is from?Melissa Eisler . Sure, you could do the maths yourself, but think about. Thirty-seven times better.
In only one year.
You’re smart enough to realise this potential.
The only question left, isn’t if, but how. How can you get 1 % better every day? What can you do to finally get things going?
These are the questions American Psychologist David Kolb already has asked himself back in the day.
Guess what? He came up with a clever solution. In 1984.
Kolb’s Learning Model
A simple adult learning model to steady mindset improvements.
This model is cyclical, meaning there’s a continuous repetition of the four different phases of this model. The phases are the following:
Kolb’s Model makes it easy to understand what you need to go through, to become better daily. The only necessity? You understand how to execute the single phases in the right way.
Let’s dive a bit deeper.
Stage #1: Having a concrete experience
You’re born to make experiences.
There’s no way around making experiences in life. And that’s great.
Because every single experience, can help you to become a better person. If it’s a good one, congratulations, you probably already became a better person. If it’s a bad one, congratulations, you just got the chance to improve yourself. What does it mean? There’s no good or bad experience by itself, because it always depends on how you look at them.
Of course, your mindset matters. But to keep it simple: Experiences are the base for improvements.
Use your chance.
Stage #2: Reviewing or reflecting observation
You had your experience.
Now, it’s time to think about it. What did go well, what didn’t?
What did your friends say about it? What would they say about it? How did you feel? Why did you feel like that? Write it down, to get a good understanding of your experience.
This good understanding is the base for the next steps. It enables you to reduce the noise of emotion.
With that, you can come up with your master plan.
Stage #3: Abstract Conceptualization
You’ve seen different point of views.
Make a plan. Think about how you could do better.
Define certain steps on how you could improve. Incorporate what you’ve realised before. Write it down, to make it easier to stick to it. Set a goal, to have something to work towards. Make it reachable.
There’s no point in formulating something out of your universe, if you can’t come up with the necessary motivation to start going. If it seems too big, break it down, into smaller goals. Reduce the complexity.
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Get going with your actionable steps.
Stage #4: Active Experimentation
No matter how well you did before, if you suck here, your progress doesn’t matter.
You can have the biggest revelations and ideas, if you don’t act on it, nothing happens. Trust me, I can tell.
For years, I’ve experienced the weirdest things. In my head, I took a step back, to see how it might feel to others. I even came up with strategies on how to act better, in the future. All for nothing.
I didn’t start experimenting. It was just in my head. I had the plan laid out, but it was worth nothing.
Because in the end, what is a plan worth, if you don’t execute it?
So, after you’ve seen the complete theory behind things, here’s the short answer:
→ Mess around, do weird stuff and live your life
→ Take a step back and try to see it from a different perspective
→ Create a plan on how to improve
→ Act on your plan and experiment
→ Repeat
Want to have a practical example?
I started working out outside, because I didn’t want to spend money on the gym. Why? Smelly air, crowded spaces and long commute times.
What did I do?
I went to the next best calisthenics spot and started working out. It felt good. But only until I realised I wasn’t making any progress (Having a concrete experience).
I hit a plateau.
But I didn’t give up. I started educating myself, watching workout videos. I saw how to execute the exercises in the right way (Reviewing or reflecting observation).
I developed a plan.
I sat down and thought about how I could spice things up. I implemented supersets, changing exercises and prolonging my workouts (Abstract Conceptualization).
I started working out differently.
I saw the results. But there were still things that didn’t work (Active Experimentation). So what did I do?
I repeated the whole process.
After numerous iterations of the process, I became significantly better at calisthenics. Now, I have a system which requires little effort, but yields huge results. Making me better every day.
What to remember?
You’ll eventually make mistakes. But that’s part of the process. It’s okay to make mistakes, if you learn from them. No matter in which area.
Also, everyone has multiple cycles at the same time.
Meaning, you can improve several areas of your life. Starting today. Because, even if you only get better in two of them, with a daily rate of 0.5 % you’ll have reached your overall daily 1 %.