People who are mentally tough and successful at what they do understand that the cumulative effect of small changes leads to significant outcomes.
And while they set out with big goals, they improve using systematic and surgical precision.
source https://jamesclear.com/marginal-gains
1% BETTER EVERY DAY
1% worse every day for one year. 0.99
365 = 00.03
1% better every day for one year. 1.01
365 = 37.78
The 1% marginal gains rule
In 2010, Dave Brailsford faced a tough job.
No British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France, but as the new General Manager and
Performance Director for Team Sky (Great Britain’s professional cycling team), Brailsford was
asked to change that.
His approach was simple.
Brailsford believed in a concept that he referred to as the “aggregation of marginal gains.” He
explained it as “the 1 percent margin for improvement in everything you do.” His belief was that
if you improved every area related to cycling by just 1 percent, then those small gains would add
up to remarkable improvement.
They started by optimizing the things you might expect: the nutrition of riders, their weekly
training program, the ergonomics of the bike seat, and the weight of the tires.
But Brailsford and his team didn’t stop there. They searched for 1 percent improvements in tiny
areas that were overlooked by almost everyone else: discovering the pillow that offered the best
sleep and taking it with them to hotels, testing for the most effective type of massage gel, and
teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection. They searched for 1 percent
improvements everywhere
Brailsford believed that if they could successfully execute this strategy, then Team Sky would be
in a position to win the Tour de France in five years time.
He was wrong. They won it in three years.
In 2012, Team Sky rider Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de
France. That same year, Brailsford coached the British cycling team at the 2012 Olympic Games
and dominated the competition by winning 70 percent of the gold medals available.
In 2013, Team Sky repeated their feat by winning the Tour de France again, this time with rider
Chris Froome. Many have referred to the British cycling feats in the Olympics and the Tour de
France over the past 10 years as the most successful run in modern cycling history.
And now for the important question: what can we learn from Brailsford’s approach?
heres the free pdf for other details of marginal gain theory:
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