1% compounding improvements
jasonleow • 16 Jan 2021 •
On the surface, 1% improvement don’t seem like much. But 1% compounded daily over a year means you’ll be 37.8 times better than when you started. The power of compounding is the reason why consistency matters as much as—or even arguably, more than—intensity. That’s why I set this goal, to try to find 1% compounding improvements regularly, if not everyday, at least every week.
What might be the smallest 1% change I can make that will have the biggest impact?
Some 1% ideas to try in the coming days and weeks:
$5k MRR
- concurrent approach: release 1 smaller feature per week while working on bigger ones.
- share a tweet/post about Lifelog per week, or reply to someone about it. Repeat for other products.
Giving more
- set up a constant feed of social issues/problems and ideas that can be solved by tech.
- brainstorming and setting a content/product schedule for social impact projects.
Biohacking rest
- at the height of post-lunch drowsiness, set a timer and close my eyes for 5min. Just 5.
Moving more
- continuing with the tiny workouts approach: wear shoes and brisk walk out to buy lunch and back. Saves time, and increases intensity.
Decoding coding
- finding a mentor for Node.js/Strapi, and Nuxt.js.
Parenting
- timeboxing the day to manage my own expectations on deep work vs being interrupted, with deep work sessions centered around baby naps. 6-8am - deep work. 8-11am - sporadic work. 11-12pm - deep work. 12-3pm - lunch routines. 3-5pm - deep work. 6-7pm onwards - evenings for dedicated time with child.
Looks like a hefty list already! :)
Comments
Yeah, ideal is daily. In writing this post I actually went to calculate daily vs weekly: 37x vs 1.67x. Weekly isn’t much, but I guess if we think in baby steps, weekly is a start. Perhaps if I can do so weekly, then daily becomes within reach. And so true about figuring out what 1% looks like… to be honest, I don’t even know if the things I set out to do are 1% or 10%, especially for more complex goals that require lots of interlinking work. Must ponder more over it…
Compounded daily is the key. I firmly believe what you do every day matters more than what you do once a week or a couple of times a month, regardless of how much you try to make up for with that activity. The kicker is figuring out what 1% looks like. How small is too small? If I walk to the refrigerator, is that enough? 🤣