The 1 Percent Rule
Life gets overwhelming.
Sometimes it feels like you have way too much on your plate. You need to maintain a good GPA. You need to learn how to write better. You need to work out more. Life feels like it’s just moving from one source of stress to another.
So how can one cope with it?
I wish I had a definitive answer for that, one that had a clear method and plan. But I’ve never been able to stick to plans. The only thing that has worked for me is the 1% rule.
The 1 Percent Rule is not a ‘rule’ per se — it’s more of a belief or a principle that you can follow (if you choose to do so).
Put simply, the 1 Percent Rule means that every day you have to try to improve yourself or to finish your task or to learn something, at least by 1 percent. Now there is no quantifiable way to measure how much 1 percent is, so you define for yourself what that 1 percent means.
If you’re working out, maybe you do one more pushup than you did yesterday. If you need to write a paper, then write one page or make one table or read one reference. If you’re learning to cook, learn one new technique or one new recipe.
You decide what 1 Percent means.
The point isn’t to measure how much you’re doing — the point is to do something. We’re often too fixated on the end goal — we need to write 30 pages, we need to do 100 pushups, we need to be able to cook like a Michelin chef — that we get overwhelmed and don’t believe that we are capable to achieve that end goal.
So instead of focusing on the ultimate goal, focus on the steps to get there. Do something to help you with your goal each day, no matter how small it is.
There is no real competition in life. You only need to be better than one person: the person you were yesterday.
Don’t worry about becoming your best self immediately. Just become better every day — 1 percent at a time.
