We all seek consistent improvement. No matter if we’re building a business, embarking on a fitness journey, or taking on a personal growth challenge, becoming a little bit better every day is the key to success.
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Enter the “One-Percent Rule.”
Popularized by James Clear in his groundbreaking book Atomic Habits, the concept is a well-established self-improvement notion nowadays.
In simple terms, small daily gains will accumulate over time and gradually take you closer to your goals.
But how do we achieve those one-percent improvements? How do we push ourselves every day to advance in those tiny fractions?
As with any self-improvement endeavor, there is no magic formula.
7 mini habits to become one percent better every day
There are, however, numerous techniques that can safeguard your tiny gains every day. In conjunction, these seemingly insignificant habits can have a profound impact. And this combination will make an immense difference in the long run.
On this basis, here are seven mini habits that will help you become one percent better every day.
Three paragraphs in your journal
Many people struggle with daily journaling, and everyone has different methods.
To become a little bit better every day, however, it’s best to focus your journaling routine on the essentials. That’s where the following three paragraphs come into play.
Even if it’s only one sentence per paragraph, focus on answering these three questions every day:
- What small win can I celebrate today?
- How did today positively influence tomorrow?
- What can I do better tomorrow?
I’ve completed these three paragraphs almost every day for the past three years, and they profoundly helped my productivity and mindfulness.
Here is an example of three answers:
- I wrote an article for a freelance client today;
- Today’s gym session will have a positive impact on my future fitness; and
- I should get up earlier tomorrow.
Writing three paragraphs into a journal won’t take more than five minutes. It will, nevertheless, help you become one percent better every day by tracking your progress, highlighting the positive, and giving you incentives for tomorrow.
Doubling your water intake
One of the most overlooked daily habits when it comes to physical and mental health is water intake.
Whether it’s weight loss, gaining muscle, or our general health, the benefits of drinking more water than the recommended two liters are unquestionable.
Personally, putting two half-liter glasses next to my bed before going to sleep helped in this regard. I now gulp down one liter right after waking up. The act gets my morning routine going but also simplifies the act of drinking at least three liters per day.
15 minutes of stillness
The next mini-habit that can help you become a little bit better everyday concerns stillness.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to getting stillness into your daily routine.
However, one of the easiest ways to find time to reflect, meditate, or simply enjoy a quarter-hour of peace is to prioritize stillness after getting up. Spending the first fifteen minutes of your day in peaceful serenity is a powerful way to boost your sharpness in the morning. And this increased mental poise will make today one percent better than yesterday.
As Ryan Holiday wrote in a 2019 blog post:
“You have to be present. You have to be grateful. You have to understand that every day you wake up alive and well is wonderful.”
Dedicate fifteen minutes of your day to being mindful of the present, and you’ll reap the rewards in the form of tiny gains.
Learning one new thing every day
Another powerful mini habit is to learn something new every single day.
In this context, you don’t have to plunge into a 50-page nuclear physics article. Focus on learning something that doesn’t take up too much space in your head but might be beneficial in the future.
If you, for example, see someone traveling to country X on Instagram, google a few facts about that country. You might never go there yourself, but knowing more than before could always be valuable in the future.
There are many other ways to increase your knowledge every day. Whether it’s through internet research, books, or documentaries, try to be a little bit more intelligent today than you were yesterday.
Exiting your comfort zone once a day
The next mini habit with a profound impact is getting out of your comfort zone every day.
To most people, discomfort isn’t a desirable state. It’s, however, outside of our cozy routines and leisure activities where personal growth happens.
If you want to become one percent better every day, you need to adopt a well-known mantra:
“Get comfortable being uncomfortable.”
As such, try to perform one act every day that makes you uncomfortable. Whether it’s a new gym exercise, talking to a stranger, or pitching a client, add discomfort to your daily routine.
Over time, you’ll become more and more comfortable in unfamiliar environments, and you’ll push your boundaries further. And once these self-imposed limits vanish, you’ll achieve sizable gains.
Leaving your phone out of sight for most of the day
When it comes to becoming one percent better every day, cutting out distractions is an integral part.
That’s why the simple yet challenging act of leaving our phones out of sight can have a substantial impact.
Personally, two rules helped a lot in this context:
- Not looking at my phone for the first three hours of the day (7 am to 10 am); and
- leaving my phone in a different room for at least half of the day.
At the outset, I was endlessly wondering whether I was missing something. After implementing these rules for a few months, however, I realized that I had become more productive in the morning and that not having a phone in grabbing distance was a blessing in disguise.
I stopped aimlessly scrolling down social media, and I reduced my news consumption to the minimum. Both of these bolstered my concentration levels – supporting the journey of becoming one percent better every day.
Buying back time every day
Finally, the last habit that will help you achieve tiny gains is to buy back time.
Simply put, perform one habit every day that will give you more time in the future.
For example, try to have a better to-do list tomorrow than you had today. That doesn’t necessarily mean having fewer tasks. The goal is to gradually become better at allocating time.
In that same vein, declutter a small part of your physical space today. If you have to declutter 100 items, organizing one today will leave you at 99 tomorrow, and in a few weeks, you’ll be down to zero.
Don’t try to do everything at once. Try to become a little bit better at organizing your time every day, and in the long term, you’ll have a lot more time than today.
This article was originally posted on Medium.
Useful links on 7 Mini Habits That Will Help You Become One Percent Better Every Day
- more under the topic “Personal Growth”
- read How to Get Better Results by Doing Less
- read 10 Powerful Habits That Can Help You Have 10 Times More Energy
