I was meeting with a client yesterday preparing do to a keynote for their company meeting in January. He said that his hope for this year is that they can just get 1% better as a company. It made me think about how “doable” it feels to do anything just 1% better. And what a massive difference it can make.
Think about how dramatic a 1% course correction is over time. If you are walking from your couch to your fridge and change your direction just 1%, you’d still get there just fine. (This is a journey I take often, by the way.)
BUT…if you were a pilot flying from New York to Los Angeles, a 1% course correction would cause you to end up 40 miles away, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
It’s a basically a time/space formula.
A small directional change NOW will put you in a different place LATER.
So, what does this look like in real life?
Well, 1% of one day is 14.4 minutes.
Let’s call in 14 minutes.
If you make a course correction today of 14 minutes per day, a lot can change.
For instance, in one year…
An average reader would read 19 books at 14 minutes per day of reading.
An average writer could write a 175-200 page book by writing 14 minutes per day.
A 200 pound man who walked 14 minutes per day would burn over 38,000 calories or the equivalent of 11 pounds of body fat.
And then there are the things that are harder to measure, but would have just as dramatic of an effect:
Meditating for 14 minutes per day.
Intentional conversation with a loved one for 14 minutes per day.
Journaling 14 minutes each morning.
All of these are minor course corrections.
Every single person reading this could choose one to start doing tomorrow.
And at that point it’s just a time/space formula.
Your life will change.
I commit to 1% more decaf coffee.