One Percent - Per Day

Born and Brought in a middle class family in India. We are often set a goal to become the number one in the class - both by family and teachers. It is all about, topping the exams, getting the highest score, getting rank #1. All you need to do is study hard(er) to become #1. Every parent has the opinion - their child can be the best and always do what ever it takes like pay for additional tution’s [though its way above they could afford], to ensure there is no roadblocks. Comparing against fellow class mates, talking about stories of students who woke up at 4.30am in 5th grade, and got rank #1. At the end of the day you get competitive and you can go as far as the best student in your class (you know). Choosing to burnout or not is not an option.

Many at times we fail to understand, what we are doing is trying to push - so that we become better than someone else. But, later in my carrer I have come to this realization that - You don’t need to compete with someone - The only person you need to compete with is yourself.

You actually, don’t really need to compete - just try to become 1% better than your yesterday self. Thanks to the book - Atomic Habits- I wish I had read this book 20yrs back.

What has changed in me is - I wake up, look at the mirror and say - what have I done yesterday to make myself 1% better. Then, what am I going to do today to make myself 1% better.

Many at times, we are so sucked into our daily lives, we fail to realize this. We are busy being busy and only at the end of the year - focal cycle - we try to retrospect and see what went well and what could have been better. But, there are two issues here 1) It’s too late feedback 2) the goal we set for the entire year - are too ambitious. But, by taking things one day at a time and having a goal of 1% improvement - which is achiveable, will enable us to be better prepared with minimum motivation.

For me 1% could be as simple as : reading 10pages of a book[tech, leadership], watching a tech podcast, writing a blog, online course, going to gym, badminton. Improvment is always both Mind or Body. As long as you cautiously spend time for these - you are learning/improving.

Note: learning is a continous process, it take time and its a never ending journey.

Happy learning!