This cyclist developed a habit of improving just 1% everyday for 3 years. Here’s what happened..

Chris Froome dropped out of college in 2007 to become a professional cyclist at the age of 22.
He was studying Economics at the University of Johannesburg for the past 2 years in South Africa.
In less than 10 years he became the most successful stage racer of the current era winning Tour de France 3 times in 2013,2015 and 2016.
But when he started cycling, Froome was just a beginner like everyone else. He once crashed into an official just after the start of a race finishing at the 36th place. Run of the mill results were a standard early into his career.
A major turning point in his life came when he caught the attention of future Team Sky (Great Britain’s professional Cycling team) manager Dave Brailsford while competing at the 2006 Commonwealth games where he finished at the 25th place.
Four years later, Froome joined the Team Sky.
Dave Brailsford introduced a theory called ‘aggregation of marginal gains’ to Froome.
He believed if you could break down everything that goes into riding a bike and improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you will put them together.
He applied this principle a long time back to British Cycling Team after been appointed the Performance of Director in 2003. Soon, results started to trickle in. The team won 2 gold medals at 2004, 7 each at 2008 and 2012 Olympic events.
Apart from maintaining a daily schedule of training on tracks, the proper nutrition, testing different bike gears, the team took the concept of 1% improvement off the track and found countless opportunities.
Brailsford hired a surgeon to teach his athletes the proper way to wash their hands so as to avoid any illness during competitions. The team decided not to shake hands with anybody during Olympics. They even brought their own mattresses and pillows to wherever they would go to sleep in the same posture every night.
Froome’s game improved over time under Dave’s leadership and he was in a position to win the the Tour de France in 3 years time.
Why the concept of “aggregation of marginal gains” works?
In our quest to improve or change we set big and ambitious goals. We say things like “I want to read 50 books this year”, “By the end of this month I want to lose 10 pounds” or “I want to become a best selling author”.
The problem with this approach is we aren’t always satisfied until we reach our goal even if we are making unobtrusive small progress everyday. One setback or failure, which is inevitable along the way derails us from our path.
The issue is not our life changing goals but the crazy deadlines we set for ourselves to achieve them.
We are obsessed about getting results fast. One simple google search reflects our collective mindset.

If we don’t realize our goals soon, we get frustrated, it becomes boring and we talk ourselves out of it.
The aggregation of marginal gains is complete opposite to how we set and view goals.
Instead of pursuing a big goal as a whole, we divide it into tiny bits and take pleasure in improving just 1% of every bit everyday.
One favorable outcome, even if it is a small one builds upon another one and creates a powerful momentum. Gary Keller calls this a domino effect in his book The One Thing.

Each standing domino represents a small amount of potential energy, the more you line up, the more potential energy you’ve accumulated. Line up enough and, with a simple flick, you can start a chain reaction of surprising power.
Whatever habits or behaviors (good or bad) we have is the result of thousands of 1% improvements or declines over a course of time.
And yet, how easily we forget it when we want to make a change. This is why 99% of people fail to make a change and realize their dreams.
Want to be a best selling author? First, become a person who writes 100 words daily.
Want to read 50 books a year? First, become a person who reads a page daily.
Want to lose 10 pounds? First, become a person who goes for a run daily.
Start improving by just 1% everyday and before you could realize those small marginal gains here and there would amount to a big change.
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