Stuck in a Rut? Embrace The 1% Rule

“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?” – Epictetus

When I started my triathlon career and was brand new to the world of endurance sports training, results happened fast.?I had been playing football and I wrestled heavyweight all throughout High School, so my time spent training was dedicated to hitting the weights and short, explosive power sprints to develop speed and agility.?Suddenly, I was refocusing my efforts on endurance training, which includes lower intensity and longer duration work in the swim, bike and the run.?It was a totally different training paradigm, and I saw lightning fast results in terms of my body composition and my endurance focused athletic abilities.?

Within just a few months of endurance training and modifying my eating habits to support my training, I dropped around 30 pounds of weight (both muscle and fat), transforming my physiology.?At first, running just a mile at a moderate pace was very taxing but suddenly I found myself doing 8 mile runs without even thinking twice.?My performance improved dramatically too, as I quickly went from struggling to run an 8 minute mile around the track to being able to hold a steady 5:30 minute mile pace for repeated efforts.?Similar gains happened with my bike and swim training too, as I transformed myself into a triathlete quite rapidly, to the point that I finished my first triathlon, with over 600 competitors, 10th overall with less than 8 months of training under my belt.?My climb up the ladder was fast.

As anyone who trains and races endurance sports knows, this phenomena isn’t unusual.?The body adapts quickly to new stimuli (i.e. training) and one goes from being ‘deconditioned’ to ‘fit’ rather quickly … but to a point.?Then, the gains slow down… a lot, and you can get stuck in a rut.

Flash forward a few years later and with continued consistent and diligent training, I reached a plateau as most athletes do, where my fitness gains (and race times) stagnated, and my gains suddenly came in much smaller increments.?No longer were the good ‘ole days of massive 10-20% gains in VO2max (a measure of aerobic capacity) or setting PR’s in almost every workout. Rather, gains come slow yet steady, but only with hard work, proper nutrition and strong recovery. ?I relished 1-2% gains in fitness and results over the months, working harder than ever to achieve them.?

And this is when I learned to embrace the 1% Rule.?

The 1% Rule is all about incremental improvement and change, and it’s something we each need to focus on in all aspects of our lives.?Unless you are starting something brand new where your opportunity is to make massive improvements almost overnight, as in my example, you are likely highly proficient in most things that you do. The good news is that you can always do better and improve… but you must shift your focus to doing the little things each and everyday that move the needle. In other words, do just 1% better.

It’s not about competing against others… it’s about you vs. you.?You are the only one that you can measure yourself against with a truly accurate measuring stick. You are the only one who YOU control.?Other people, your competitors, may help set the standards of excellence, but what they do is NOT within your control.?You are.

If you focus on doing the things necessary to become 1% better each day, you’ll make incredible gains over the course of time.?It’s cumulative, and it adds up quickly.?You may not even recognize your improvement in the short term, but one day you’ll look back and you’ll see it all coming together.

My question for you today is this, “What are you doing to improve by just 1% today? Tomorrow? The next day?”.?Focus on the 1%, and you’ll see incredible results in the long term.

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Troy Jacobson is a former professional IRONMAN Triathlete, former Official Coach of IRONMAN and creator of the Spinervals Cycling Workout Series, the original indoor workouts. Now as an Executive Coach and Vistage Chair, he coaches CEO's, Business Owners and Executives to perform better. Learn more at www.troyjacobson.com