I have had a question stuck in my mind that I want to share with you. It’s been growing in presence for a while now.
I was thinking about some of the goals that I have set myself and how I will go about reaching them. The next level sometimes seemed so far away to me, but I knew from experience that there is a way for “the next level” to be reached. I’ve done it before, and so have you.
I thought to myself about how success is reached. It dawned on me while taking a shower the following morning (as all good ideas do), that my victories never came from big, flashy actions, but rather from the small actions that were made consistently and never put off. The kind of actions which your gut knows will add up over time, even if they don’t seem appealing to your mind in the moment.
Success came from small but regular improvements. At first, improvements are unnoticeable and can even feel painful in the moment (like when pushing out of the comfort zone). These are called growing pains. They are ok though, because even though improvements are tiny to begin with, eventually we improve at improving; and then things really take off. The growth will accelerate.
This brings me to the question that has been stuck in my mind. “What would happen if I made myself improve 0.5% every day?”
As a typical engineering student, I went to a calculator for the answer.
After 1 week – Improving at 0.5% every day (a very achievable amount in my mind) would mean a net improvement of 3.5%. Not bad.
After 2 weeks – A net improvement of 7.2% from the starting position.
After a month – A Total of 15% improvement. I would imagine that even this amount of personal growth could make a massive difference.
After 10 weeks (2.5 months) – Improvement percentage of 42% (Pretty good, no?)
Today, this idea evolved to a whole new dimension in my head. I was thinking about a guy from school who I bumped into at the train station recently.
It was surprising to see that such a relaxed, confident kid could turn into a man going through life (apparently) with no real purpose, and had become somewhat “subdued”. I wondered if this was what happens when you get 0.5% worse every day, an idea that was slightly uncomfortable to think about.
This chance meeting really showed me that people are always changing. Life is always changing; there is no remaining at the same level.
Either you are improving by 0.5% every day, or you are getting 0.5% worse every day.
Ofcoarse, the actual percentage varies, but the fact remains that at every fork in the road, we have a chance to improve or a chance to regress.
People are always making progress, but it is up to you to decide in which direction that progress leads. No-one will make that decision for you.
