In 2002 Sir Dave Brailsford became the head of British Cycling. At the time, the winning record of the British cycling team was essentially non-existent. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics his team won 7 out of 10 gold medals. The following Olympics in London, Dave and his team achieved the same result – 7 of 10 gold medals. The impressive record and sustained performance is attributed to improving each component of the cycling experience by 1%.
Improvement by 1% works well in areas in which measurement is precise. In the case of cycling this could be the weight of a bike or the aerodynamics of a helmet. It becomes more difficult when trying to make improvements to yourself as an individual. For example, measuring your ability to be 1% kinder to others is not as easy to measure as the weight of a bike frame.
In my last post, I shared about alignment to our ideal state of being. It is hard to do. I view seeking this alignment as the same as improving by 1%. As I pondered on this, I was reminded of the word “metanoeo” found in the Greek New Testament. The prefix meta- means “change.” The suffix -noeo is related to Greek words that mean “mind”, “knowledge,” “spirit,” and “breath.” To align ourselves with our ideal state of being we must metanoeo – or in other words change our mind, knowledge, spirit, and even our breath.
To improve and become better (whether it is 1% or more) we need to go through the work of change. It is not a perfect science, and there will be setbacks, but this process is the surest process I know for improving over time.
My challenge for you is to take 5 minutes to consider what you may need to change to find the progress you seek. Once you have considered this, write down one action you can take to help you move in that direction.
