Be 1% better

“When you focus on the practice instead of the performance, you can enjoy the present moment and improve at the same time.” – James Clear

A) Fall back down, get back up. Or B), fall down and stay put. When the going gets tough, we all have a choice to choose A or B. There’s no wrong answers because either option is a journey in itself yet falling down, dusting yourself off, and trying again is the small 1 percent change that can lead to greatness.

Bettering yourself by 1 percent goes hand in hand with the Japanese practice of Kaizen. Kaizen means continuous improvement. By making small daily habits, your personal development and life can soar. By soar, think of this as small incremental changes that build up over time versus quick fixes.

Quick fixes tend to place bandaids over the root cause while on the flip, building a strong foundation from the ground up fills in the cracks and helps you grow at a steady pace. Over the years, I’ve learned that growing organically from the bottom up allows for the most perfect environment. And reflecting back to days prior helps you understand how far you’ve come. It’s all about the baby steps. Think about it, you can swing for the fences all you want but how often are you getting on base?

Repetition helps your outcome and by practicing your craft/s on the daily, building a solid routine can get to where you want to be in no time. Developing who you want to become takes grit, effort, patience – the list can truly go on. But at the end of the day, it’s all about your commitment to yourself. How badly do you want that thing? How badly do you want to soar?

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.” – Eckhart Tolle

We’re in a zoom culture where everyone expects change to happen overnight. That’s super unrealistic, that’s how faults become reality. Slowing down to speed up is the biggest lesson I’ve learned over time. Staying in the now moment helps you accomplish this. Your mind can race 200mph and when that happens, you get pulled away. Try staying on course – being present helps you enjoy your evolution. It brings you back to where you should be, your baseline in the now.

Try sitting down and thinking of the small habits you can eliminate and/or incorporate into your life. For me, this meant cleaning my act up in my thirties. From getting organized, making amends, mapping out my days, controlling my reactions and words used, writing daily, expressing my truth, etc – it’s all about having goals, creating a vision, and making it happen by taking action.

Don’t worry about a timeline or getting too hard on yourself if you don’t see results right away – in 6 months to a year you’ll know you’ve transformed. You’ll notice how life doesn’t seem so bad and how grateful you are. It’s a win win and only takes a small 1 percent doing on the daily to soar to your highest potential.