Finding that extra 1%

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It’s a new year and for a lot of people that means resolutions and goal setting. I’ve never had great long lists of resolutions, prefering to set a couple of bigger life changes, usually around health, work and family. I’m much more likely to stick to them rather than ending up dissapointed by my birthday in early Feb, because I’ve fallen off the wagon.

What I’m far more interested in and writing this post about, is the process of continuous improvement, finding that extra 1% in everything I do to make me more efficient.

If you’re looking at successful people in any walk of life and wondering if there is a secret sauce, you’ll be searching for a long time. Surely it’s because they get up at 5am every morning and go for a jog before the gym? Isn’t it because they’ve had money given to them by others so the gamble of taking risks and hitting it big is mitigated? It’s probably because they have a strong team around them actually doing the work. The fact is, it’s not one of these things, its always a mixture.

In the 20+ years I’ve been running a business I’ve watched, spoken to and been mentored by a number of very successful people. Note I don’t use the term wealthy here. They are not mutually exclusive. Some of them are wealthy for sure, but others have a style of life to die for, doing what they want, when they want it. They’re not millionaires but they don’t care, they have a life they’ve designed. I guess, not to be pedantic, there is always an element of wealth in there to allow a certain level of financial freedom but what I mean is that I’m not just talking about the top 1% here.

Some people undoubtedly get lucky breaks, they are in the right place at the right time and fair play to them but for the majority of us it won’t come that easily.

So how can you improve your chances of success? It comes back to that old Henry Ford favourite - “if you always do what you’ve always done…”

For me its about looking at every single aspect of your life (not in one go, don’t worry) and just softly questioning it. Could I do this differently and get a ‘better outcome’. Yes the obvious stuff like making sales, looking after clients etc should be in there but sometimes those jugernaughts are hard to turn. I literally mean you should challenge everything; could I take a shower differently? Could I goto bed differently? Could I change my evening meal time for better effect? You get the point.

We humans are creatures of habit. We get into routines and we stick with them…even…if they make us unhappy sometimes!

I stongly believe that success comes from being self aware enough to question yourself regularly, make change and analyse how that’s helped you (or not).

Dave Brailsford is/was the manager of Team Sky, the cycling team. He now works with the likes of the French National Football team. In James Clear’s book?Atomic Habits, he talks about Dave’s concept of marginal gains and the 1% effect. Boiling it down, this is not about trying to improve everything you do overnight, but simply making 1% gains in lots and lots of areas of your life and business. So in the cycling world, he would have looked at things like the shape and aerodynamics of parts of a bike, the clothes that they wore when racing, the way that they train, the things that they ate, and he applied a marginal gains approach to it. The accumulation of all of those ‘one percents’ adds up significantly over time. I truly believe that this is one of the areas where very successful people focus, maybe even subconsciously.

Since reading that book many years ago, I’ve heard quite a few sports stars talk about this including Ben Stokes and Jack Nowell. I’m not sure if they’ve read the book or if it’s just a well regarded practice in sport but I’m a big believer that business can take a lead from the world of sports so I often look for inspiration there.

So where else can you get inspiration for change? For me, this comes from books, podcasts, blog posts and discussions with people I look upto. I consume to learn and as a slightly cheesy Instagramer I follow says regularly, “if you Learn, you Earn”!!!

There are two traps to avoid when it comes to your business.

1). I know it best

You got here right? You know your business/market/clients better than everyone else. Why would anyone be able to teach you? This closed mindset will mean you stay still at best, maybe even go backwards. Yes you may be a master of your craft, but others have spent more time around the edges, the things every business needs, not just yours. Seek to learn from them, be open to change and implement iteratively in your business.

2). I’m too involved and can’t see the wood through the trees

This happens to us all. Sometimes I can go months without realising I’m in that deadly spiral. I’m not even sure what jolts me out to be honest. Its usually one of those ‘shower, or middle of the night moments’.

Have you ever been in that situation where you’re talking to someone else who is having challenges and you can see so clearly what they need to do? This is the same. In your business, your mind is often clouded by the thousand things going on around you; that target you need to hit this month, that member of staff who is off sick, the client that needs you to go and see them, the strategy for the next 3 years, the board meeting you need to present at next week. It’s no wonder its hard to see clearly. The answer, by the way, is to carve out time away from work. Whole days if you can, even better if it’s without communication with the office. I have a few ‘goto's’ here - I love?Bovey Castle. I find it inspirational and sitting in front of a roaring log fire in winter is a pretty special place to cleanse my mind of the daily grind and think big.

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So lets make some changes today, lets think about the areas of your life and business where you could improve. Where could you get 1% from today? Did you eat a certain type of breakfast this morning because you always do? Lets try something more healthy tomorrow. Did you check your phone first thing when you woke up? Lets leave it til after breakfast. Did you eat a sandwhich at lunch that gave you a mid afternoon slump? Lets try a salad.

Go for a walk for 10 mins, stop scrolling through endless social media of other peoples lives, turn the news off. This is on you.

Remember, “if you always do what you always did”….don’t be that person.