Design a Career Like Myron Rolle’s with Continuous Improvement

In the Arena is LinkedIn News’ weekly human potential podcast hosted by (me)?Leah Smart. You’ll hear from some of the world's brightest minds and bravest hearts about how to show up daily to live a better & more meaningful life. Each week, this newsletter shares learnings and practices connected to the conversations.?Subscribe to the show's newsletter?here. This week, we got time with former NLF safety and neurosurgeon, Myron Rolle. He's helping us all get just 2% better every day.

James Clear’s Atomic Habits has been one of the most influential books I’ve ever read. And I love nothing more than to see research that can improve our lives, in action. Dr. Myron Rolle ’s career embodies this work in such an admirable way. He’s gone from Oxford student and Rhodes Scholar to NFL Safety, then to neurosurgery student at Harvard and resident at Massachusetts General. Seeing each of these experiences, I imagined that just achieving one, for some of us, would be the highlight of our lives.?

But beyond that, I felt I was learning the story of someone who is admirably living as a multihyphenate. While his paths feel disconnected at first blush, I think they actually represent the truth of human interest. Most of us don’t find and pick only one career that we stick with forever. Life happens- we learn new things, have defining experiences, and we change. Even for those of us who do decide squarely on a “what”, the “how” can take many shapes over the years.?

Myron is an example of someone who didn’t choose one but chose all, with the belief that continued evolution is led by cultivating his talents and sharing his innate gifts. And while each body of work might look different, the skills he acquired from one vocation to the next meant he wasn’t starting from scratch when investing in a new venture.?

Did you miss In the Arena Live about what we're leaving behind in 2023??Check out our inspiring conversation about how to reset and ensure you're ready to succeed at your goals, below. Submit your anonymous story about a challenge you're having to get coaching from Leah and the In the Arena community on 2/9,?here.

Improving by 2% every day is how he’s approached his progress and ongoing achievements. Myron calls it, "the 2% way." When it comes to applying this on a daily basis envisioning 2% improvement works, or you can ask yourself:?

Today, what would “better” look like??

In Atomic Habits, James Clear describes this approach as “the art of continuous improvement”, while combining his theory that when it comes to improving (or changing) a habit, our focus should be on the level of our identity, not the level of our behaviors. This was a game-changer for me and if you’re not yet familiar with it, I think it will be for you too.?

Think about something you’d like to accomplish. Now imagine defining who it means you’ll have to become in order to accomplish it versus what you’d have to do.?

Let’s take a simple example: I want to become a strong lap swimmer.?

In order to become a strong lap swimmer, who would you have to become? The answer could sound like one of these examples:?

• A strong lap swimmer would be the kind of person who clearly prioritizes physical fitness.?
• A strong lap swimmer would be the kind of person who is very comfortable in the water.?

In the first one, perhaps you see a need to make your fitness important to you because it hasn’t been. And in the second, you could recognize you're not totally comfortable in the water yet.?

Combining this desired new identity with continuous improvement means you have a path to get there. James Clear defines continuous improvement as a dedication to making small changes and improvements every day, with the expectation that those small improvements will add up to something significant.

His book suggests that if you get one percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done as opposed to getting 1% worse every day.?

So, how can you approach that “something” you want to accomplish with this mindset? Start with defining it; understanding whom you believe yourself to be now and whom you’d need to become. Then, define how you can improve with tiny gains every day.?

Someone who doesn't feel comfortable in the water could find a way to get themselves in a discussion about or close to the water in small ways every day by:

• spending a few minutes imagining how they'd like to feel in the water.
• speaking to someone whose vocation is connected to water.
• reading or watching a documentary about water.
• going to a pool or body of water regularly to slowly get more comfortable.

Part of the reason I love continuous improvement is, there are countless ways to improve by 1% every day- you have so many options. I also know through experience that you’ll build real confidence through small improvements instead of attempts to make leaps that leave you disappointed if you fall short.

This is an approach to achieving what you want that assumes you’re running a marathon, not a sprint. And the time will pass either way, so start somewhere and as Myron says, start small.??

Until next time...where could you make a tiny gain for big results?