Are you ready improve 10X?

How about 10% instead?

Today I want to argue against one of the smartest guys in the world.

Peter Diamindis is a “powerhouse” by all accounts, he’s one of these guys that takes on almost mythological status among the Silicon Valley & VC types. He talks about 10X changes instead of 10% changes, moonshots, taking bigger risks and bigger leaps than the majority of people can even consider. Now, I understand the value of what he’s saying and the approach he takes to solving problems - there are certainly advantages and huge possibilities for people who take these things on board and start to apply them. But in some ways the advice he gives doesn’t feel practical, it doesn’t feel impactful for people who might really need some help at this moment in time. So I’m going to attempt to write the argument for the 10% improvement.

The mindset for a 10% improvement requires a shift in your perspective, you have to be willing and able to change your point of view on certain issues if you really want to see that change take place. But most people can manage a ten percent shift, they can open their mind to the possibilities contained in that ten percent - it’s within their grasp. Diamindis argues that the fact it’s so attainable is a reason to ignore it, or move beyond it, but I think when compared to the 10X changes he’s describing, 10% feels much more manageable for the people who have to do the work. So often it takes incremental changes a long long time to really take hold. When you’re asking a person, or a business owner, to change their point of view, even ten percent, you’re asking them to make some serious changes. That ten percent doesn’t come easily, especially to those people we deal with that are some deeply ingrained in the day-to-day of the lives and their business. For many 10% might as well be 10X at the beginning. But with a little coaching and a little prodding 10% becomes manageable. It isn’t so far outside their reality that they can’t get there, they just have to have some help. So as coaches looking for areas where 10% changes can be impactful is an important first step. Ten percent improvements aren’t necessarily worth the time and effort in every phase of a business or a life. The energy required to move the needle 10% might not be worthwhile in every area that needs to be addressed. But there are certain circumstances or categories where 10% would make a huge change in a person’s life or business, where 10% would be enough to change their entire relationship to their business, so that is where we can gain a foothold.

The law of compounding returns applies in this sense too - 10% might not seem like a lot right now, but if you can deliver that 10% consistently over time, month after month, year after year, 10% improvements add up very quickly. And that compounding can radically change the face and the shape of a business over time. If you told most people to jump to 10X or even 2X changes in their business or their life they wouldn’t even know where to begin. They’d be intimidated by the sheer enormity of those kind of changes. But if you told them that 10% per year would get them there in 7 years, that suddenly seems much more manageable and achievable. That not only keeps them engaged in the process, but it is much easier to see the possibility of changing things on a huge scale after you’ve seen how it works to change them on a smaller scale. Ten percent changes make 10X changes seem more attainable.

The argument that Diamindis makes includes the idea that the competition for that 10% is too high for the return or the rewards. I’d argue that his resources and riches have spoiled his take on what that kind of improvement could really mean to someone who achieves it. Sure in one sense the competition for a 10% improvement might be high, but the potential for reward, for the return on that investment cannot and should not be underestimated. The potential for a business owner to see that kind of impact and change in their business cannot be undervalued - because it starts the ball rolling. Once they see how their mental framework and their attitudes and decisions can change to bring about that 10% change they are much more likely to continue to look for ways to make improvements elsewhere. To look for new ways to implement these 10% changes and make an impact in another part of their business or their life. Once someone finds success in making those 10% improvements that type of thinking and mindset is going to spill over into so many other areas that they’re bound to see continued improvement elsewhere.

I’d also argue that aiming only at 10X changes sets too many people up for a failure that they’re not prepared to manage. Peter Diamindis knows that his moonshot failures won’t break him, emotionally or financially, but that might not be the case for everyone. One of the reasons failing on these moon shots is okay is because even a “failure” in the attempt will usually yield some measureable progress, they may not hit their 10X goal but they’ve moved the needle beyond where they were and closer to something previously believed to be unachievable. Nike’s sub-2 hour marathon comes to mind right now. They swung for something huge and came up just short, but they advanced things in a huge way, a way that 10% improvement might have taken years or decades to do. But the people taking that shot were already at the top of their respective ecosystems - they’re closer to the top than almost anyone else could ever imagine being, so their failures don’t have the same impact. For someone taking a much larger risk, swinging for a 10X improvement could mean a pretty brutal fall back to earth. And while I know embracing failure is a part of the process, I think the fact remains that many people are not equipped - financially, emotionally - to deal with what comes after failing on a moonshot. The reward in a ten percent improvement might not be as large, but the smaller risk has advantages as well. There are positives for many people who are prepared to take a chance on a change, but can’t put their entire livelihood at risk to do so. There is something to be said for this kind of a measured approach and there is no reason to think that everyone could stomach shooting for the moon and coming up short.

Now I’ve probably bastardized some of his arguments and talking points, and I’m sure this piece wouldn’t win a debate with the man, but I think focusing on those 10% improvements may be a better fit for the people that we reach and coach. The things that can be accomplished through taking moonshots and focusing on 10X improvements will continue to move our world forward - I have no doubt about that - but holding that idea up as the ultimate truth is a mistake. There are too many good things that can come from making the marginal improvements, in finding ways to make things a little bit better. Don't ignore their importance or their impact. For small business owners everywhere you have to be willing to make the changes internally and externally in pursuit of those 10% changes even if you’ve got your eyes set on something much bigger. There is power in the 10% and I hope we can embrace that.