You’ve probably heard this: get 1% better every day and you will transform your life. It sounds simple. It sounds powerful. And it is. But here’s where things can stall. If you scatter that effort across too broad a focus, nothing changes. If on Monday you focus on your fitness, Tuesday on your business, Wednesday on your relationship, and so on, you’re improving, right?

Well, you may be getting 1% better in A, then B, then C, then D but your effort is diluted. Ultimately it’s not productive. By the time you get back to improving your fitness you’ll have lost all your momentum. You may even have slid backward a little.

What’s required is a much more concentrated and consistent effort.

Hey there. It’s me, Kore. And you’re listening to Exercising Self-Control: From Fitness To Flourishing.

Speed vs. Velocity: Why Direction Matters

Here’s an analogy. There’s a difference between speed and velocity. Speed measures how fast something moves. You could be moving at the speed of light, but if you’re just bouncing back and forth in the same spot, you’d go nowhere. A snail moving in a straight line will cover more ground in an hour than something with incredible speed but just spinning in place.

And that’s the thing, the snail has velocity. Velocity measures not only speed but the direction of that speed. And that’s the difference. Improvement isn’t about how fast you move. It’s about moving consistently in the same direction.

Photo by Ash Amplifies on Unsplash

The Framework: Identify, Measure, Repeat

When you commit to real improvement (e.g. business, health, or any skill) you need three things:

First, identify the specific behaviours and metrics that matter. What exactly are you measuring? Revenue? Strength? Writing quality? Be precise.

Second, focus fully on those key behaviours. Not everything; the things that move the needle.

Third, track them consistently. Though you’re aiming for 1% it won’t be that precise. What matters is the direction stays the same and the trend is improvement.

The Motivation Problem

Here’s the most difficult challenge with this approach: 1% improvement doesn’t feel like anything.

Tommy Baker, author of The 1% Rule: How To Fall In Love With The Process And Achieve Your Wildest Dreams, points out that if you get 1% better every day for one year, you’ll be 37 times better than when you started. Mathematically true, if you can keep up that pace. But even if you only 10x instead of 37x your performance it’s a massive improvement. Either way, you won’t feel it.

The compounding happens so slowly in the beginning you won’t notice much at all. It will feel like you’re just running in place. Lots of motion but no progress.

This is where most people quit.

The Real Reinforcement: Consistency With Your Values

That’s why consistency with your highest values matters. Your values provide immediate reinforcement. And that’s something you need right now, not a year from now.

When you’re grinding through those invisible weeks of improvement, the metrics aren’t moving visibly yet. The results aren’t there. But if you’re working toward something that aligns with what you actually believe in, that alignment itself becomes the reward. You’re not just chasing a number. You’re living according to what matters to you.

This distinction is crucial. If you’re improving your business purely for money, the early grind feels hollow. But if you’re improving it because you value autonomy, or impact, or building something meaningful? Suddenly the daily work has purpose. The 1% doesn’t feel pointless anymore. It feels like you’re becoming who you want to be.

* To explore this idea further check out my episode called The Most Powerful Self-Reinforcement System.

What Keeps You On The Path

That’s what helps keep you on the path when the results aren’t visible yet. Yes, you strive to be disciplined. But when your improvement is rooted in your values, consistency becomes natural. You’re not forcing yourself to show up. You’re choosing to because it’s consistent with your Preferred Self.

The compounding will come. But first, you have to survive the invisible phase. And you survive it by staying consistent. Both in what you choose to focus your effort on improving and in who you are becoming.

That’s it for today. Catch you next time.

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