I often find myself stuck in a rut of wanting to create better habits for myself but perpetually struggling to carry those new habits out. Perhaps it is because I set myself too many goals that are far too large to realistically see through each week. Perhaps it is because I find myself becoming overwhelmed with having to seemingly upturn my entire routine in order to meet each goal. Recently I’ve been using the 1% rule and oh wow, it’s a made a genuine difference.
If you make the effort to improve by 1% each day for a year, that’s a whole lot of better by the end of it. I worked out what areas of my life I wanted to improve in and habits I wanted to pick up by answering the following prompts.
What would a good day look like?
What areas of my life do I want to improve?
What do I need to change to be a better version of myself?
What do I want to change?
How do I want to feel and what do I want my life to look like by the end of the year?
Once I had an understanding of concrete habits I wanted to place into my daily life I began doing them by 1% each day.
I began to ensure I read minimum one chapter of a book each day. I made sure I left the house and walked somewhere, whether that was a long ramble in the country or a trip round the corner to Tesco (more often the latter), each day. That I began my day with a glass of water. That I chose an area of the flat to tidy each day. Putting my phone down when I worked to be more present. Reading 1-3 industry articles on LinkedIn when I wake rather than mindlessly scrolling through TikTok. Cooking homemade food rather than ordering out.
Improving by 1% doesn’t have to be limited to habits such as the above. If everyone tried to be 1% kinder each day, the world would be a far nicer place to live in. Practice smiling at a stranger. Hold your tongue when usually you’d be tempted to say something too sharp. Tell someone you love them. Pay yourself a compliment rather a critique when you look in the mirror.
Tiny steps lead to big things, always.
How would you improve your everyday by 1%, let us know in the comments below!
navigating twenties 