We have different approaches to personal development. Some complain that supervisors and companies do not develop them. Others don’t have time or don’t see the need to develop themselves. However, there are those who take their development into their own hands. I happen to be one of those. The question is how to approach this task. Out of the blue? Methodically? If systemic, what strategy to take? Develop your strengths? Work to improve weaknesses?
Or maybe apply the one percent’s personal development strategy. I will focus on examples from the field of sports.
Rafael Nadal, a living legend of tennis. Early in his career, Nadal developed his unique strengths in this game: a topspin forehand whose rotation can reach 5,000 turns. In comparison, Federer’s forehend is a maximum of 2,700 turns. Another of Nadal’s strengths are his famous passing shots played in full gear. Still, he had a lot of weaknesses. His service was correct, but it did not hinder the game of his opponents. A straight slide on the opponent’s backhand with an average speed of 170 km/h. He continued to focus on improving this play. In 2010, during his victorious U.S. Open, he crushed opponents with a service that reached speeds of up to 220 km/h. Another weak point in Nadal’s tennis game was his play at the net. Initially, he did not play at the net at all. Between 2006 and 2008, he seriously invested in woley skills and today is considered a master of the short exchange.
The legendary tennis player has spent years perfecting his two strengths: his defensive abilities and the quality of his hitting. He took the latter element in particular to a level unknown to anyone before in his times. In the case of the forhand, he was inspired by the practice of table tennis. Just in this area he could follow his father, who was a good ping-pong player. His two-handed backhand, on the other hand, was inspired by ice hockey, which Bjoern played as a child. He used heavy rockets with very strong tension. Receiving his atomic strikes devastated his opponents. Borg was a titan of patience in perfecting his strikes.
The Head of the British Cycling Union has made a pledge to the UK government to train the first-ever British winner of the Tour de France within four years. He employed a strategy of improving by one percent. He made the assumption that it is difficult to achieve a spectacular improvement. Only titans, heroes of perseverance and consistency are able to maintain self-motivation, iron discipline over the long term. If we don’t have such talents on the team, heroes of perseverance, are we automatically doomed to failure? Sir Brailsford did not focus on finding talent, but on honing masterful skills in average players. He used the one percent strategy. What did it consist of? He approached the issue procedurally. He divided the process of training a world-class cyclist into component parts. We would say, sub-processes. He worked to improve the effectiveness of each part by one percent. Not by five or ten percent. By one.
What did it turn out to be? In three years, not four, as Sir Dave had pledged to the British government, Braddley Wiggins of the British Team Sky team won the Tour de France. The one percent system continued to operate with the same efficiency. For the next three years – Christopher Fromme of Team Sky – won the Tour de France. By the way, he also won himself the Tour de Pologne. Fromme’s recipe for success? Same. One percent strategy. I was intrigued to learn that the idea of this one percent strategy goes against familiar and much-honored approaches, such as: focus on three key issues. This strategy requires a focus on all elements of the process. Not on the usual “top three.” Another firmly held sacred model is Pareto, 80/20. Focus on the 20% of elements that are responsible for 80% of the result. Who would dare question a rule that has been known for centuries and made famous in every business field? The one percent strategy throws down the gauntlet and the “top three” and 80/20. Plus, it’s very effective.
A one percent improvement is achievable for everyone. Making small changes is not difficult and is also noticeable. The secret of this approach lies in aggregation, the accumulation of marginal gains. I guess that my readers are familiar with the phenomenon of compound interest. A simple example: if I put one penny on the chessboard on one field, double that penny on the next field, double the value of the pennies from the previous field on each subsequent field, there will be an incredible number of pennies on the last field of the chessboard. Otherwise – an incredible fortune. It will be exactly 92,233,720 368,547,759 GBP. How many yachts worth 50 million GBP would you buy with that?
How do you translate the one percent development strategy into personal development?
Let me use my own example. I decided to improve my productivity in the conceptual process. For example, I produce a new module in some of my training on UDEMY. I have 10 steps in such a module development process:
I measured my average development time. In Lean language, this is called Process Lead Time. Before the application of the one percent strategy, it amounted to 7.5h per module.
For two months, I experimented with small improvements in each of these ten steps. Sometimes it was learning a convenient keyboard shortcut in ScreenPal. Sometimes streamlining photo processing in Canva. At other times, there were improvements in the tabulation of the script for narration, making it easier to work with the voice on the recording. I have better standardized file storage, folder organization on OneDrive. It has always been a simple, even trivial improvement. After two months, I measured the time. Several times. The new lead time for this process was: 5h. I improved my personal productivity by 33%. One third! It was worth it.
Often at formal meetings or during informal conversations, I listen to bitter regrets and laments such as “I don’t have time,” “I’m constantly short on time,” “I’m busy,” “I don’t know my name anymore.” My simple answer: you have it at your own request. Some are winning. Others complain. You can use the strategy of strengthening strengths (Borg), the strategy of improving weaknesses (Nadal), the strategy of the one percent (Fromme) or… the strategy of complaining. You decide whether you march or die.
