1% improvement every day leads to more than 37% improvement over a year.

It is simple math. 

1.01^365=37.78

It’s talked about often.

What’s not discussed often is how to put this into practice in our own lives.

Here is a simple way.

Decide what you want to get better at. This is the simple part. Right?

Now the difficult part is to decide what to do for this 1% improvement.

It is all tactical, it is all about action.

But you will succeed better with it if you plan ahead of time on what actions you will take for this 1% improvement, and when you will take those planned actions.

For this planning, set aside at least a couple of days. Then 4-5 hours in two blocks of 2-3 hours each across these days.

During this time go from macro to micro on what you’ll do on each day of the year for 1% improvement.

Before that pick your improvement goal.

Break your improvement goals into 12 parts spread across 12 months. 

Then write what you’ll need to do in order to achieve your monthly improvement goal.

Next up, break your monthly goals into 4 weekly goals for each month.

When it comes to taking action to achieve your yearly, monthly, and weekly improvement goal –  aim to form a habit. So that it becomes effortless to pursue the improvement you are after.

Next to make sure that you don’t miss out on taking action on your daily 1% improvement plan, schedule this action. Write down when and where you will take this action you’ve planned.

For holistic improvement, you’ll need to work on the process and also on output and other facets depending on what you are trying to improve.

How To Put It To Use As As Writer

For example, if you want to become a better writer, you can work on improving quality, quantity, distribution, and engagement.

On the process front, writing has the following parts:

• Coming up with ideas
• Outlining
• Writing
• Editing

For improvement, one can create and use templates, and develop processes for outlining and editing or follow an existing proven process.

On the output front, you have words per speed as a metric. To improve that, increase your writing speed and practice typing every day. Typing is a key micro skill that impacts how fast you can write so it will have a big impact on your output. An outline also has an impact on how fast you can write.

You can also improve your writing workflow to increase your output. By fixing your environment, sharpening your tools that include your brain also.

For quality writing, you’ll need to read other good writers, edit well and learn new techniques like writing narrative nonfiction. For this, you can take courses like the ones offered by MasterClass.

For distribution, you can start by publishing what you write on a platform. Once you are established there you can add new platforms to the mix over time. You can even partner with others to bring more awareness about your work.

For engagement, you won’t have to do much except wetting well in the beginning. Later you can try persuasive writing to improve engagement.

There is more to it but you get the idea. Right?

Now, break it all across monthly, weekly, and daily actions during those 2 planning days that I wrote about earlier in this article.

Once that is done, start taking action. And, make sure to review your progress to identify areas where you need deliberate practice.

You can put it to use to improve anything in your life.

What will you use it for?