Be 1% Better Than You Were Yesterday

Photo by Daria Nepriakhina 🇺🇦 on Unsplash

“Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a month. We overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade.” — Matthew Kelly

The worst critic of all is yourself. No one is harder on us than we are. And because of that, we suppress potentially great ideas from ever coming into existence.

How good could you be if you just lowered your expectations about what you could accomplish in a day? Most times, we lack the motivation to pursue our goals because our daily tasks appear daunting. And they can be if we don’t word them appropriately.

Here’s a sample list of to-do items that can seem overwhelming:

• finish first draft of essay
• plan trip to Japan
• plan retirement
• finish school project

Looking at this list can stress you out. There’s too much to unpack. And because the mind realizes that there is a lot to unpack, it’s only natural to kick the can down the road. Delay these tasks for another time when we’re not busy with other things.

That time may never come. There will always be some form of rationalizing yourself from acting.

“Whew, it’s a good thing I decided not to tackle this big task…look at all the fires I gotta put out today…”

Self-preservation is our natural inclination. And an unpacked to-do list item moves us into unknown territory. “I don’t know how long this task will take…and I’ve got other things to do.”

So how can we avoid this pitfall?

Just work on small improvements. Focus on being 1% better than you were yesterday.

Here are some changes you can make to start thinking smaller (of course, with the intent of accomplishing more than you’ve ever done before):

1. Think in terms of “Next Actions”. We avoid daunting tasks because they’re ambiguous. The task of unpacking an ambiguous task is a task itself. And should not be done together with actually doing that stated task. Break it down into small, actionable steps. Think smaller. How small? As small as you need to start moving the task forward. Nothing is too small if it means you’re going to act, finally.
2. Limit Work-in-Progress. We think we can multi-task. But there are many studies that show that multitasking is a myth. Like a car engine, it takes time for our brains to warm up. To understand the context of the task. To understand all the things that can affect the task. If we’re switching between different tasks, we lose context. The dangerous part is thinking that we have everything under control. Limit the number things you’re doing. Quality beats quantity every time.
3. Brutal Prioritization. In line with number 2, prioritize. You can’t do everything and expect excellent results in every thing. Figure out what should be focused on first. Then do just that. Nothing else. This might be the toughest task, but it’s one that should come first. Everything else depends on how you prioritize.

What steps can you take so that you’re 1% better than you were yesterday?