The power of small gains is nothing new. Quickly we think of John Wooden, Darren Hardy's The Compound Effect, Japanese Kaizen, British cycling under Dave Brailsford (produced Olympic gold within two years), McLaren Formula One racing and their "Tenths" program, and the 2001 New England Patriots (Super Bowl XXXVI) built from free agents and castoffs.
22 Years. One man. He cut through a mountain. "Don't tell me you'll try. Show me you can."
"The Aggregation of Marginal Gains"
2 Tiny gains constantly acquired produce exponential improvement.
James Clear reviews the process of habit formation.
"Tell the story of why you failed." 3 Do a pre-mortem examination. Examine what went wrong before it goes wrong. We can't change if we're unaware.
Brad Stevens restates noticing with a question, "what does my team need now?" What's the proper motivation for a developmental team? I want us to be a worthy opponent. Repetitions remind us, "the magic is in the work." And Liking reminds me of the eulogy where a worker celebrated his boss, "was your work good enough that you would sign your name to it?"
Our environment conditions our motivation.
4 "Every outcome is a point along the spectrum of repetitions."
"The best way to change long-term behavior is with short-term feedback." - Seth Godin
5 Clear, using a Seinfeld example, reminds us, "Don't break the chain," meaning stick to your desired (good) habit. That could be exercise, reading, writing, our morning routine. Remember Mike Dunlap's "SAVERS" acronym - silence (mediation), affirmations, visualizations, exercise, reading, scribing (journaling).
Clear distills this with advice to 6 "Never miss twice."
The quickest path to improvement is knowledge over size, athleticism, and skill. Reading and consistent video study are vital for serious students.
Clear closes with a story about the Ship of Theseus. If you change out every board of a ship during its long-term maintenance, do you have something fundamentally the same or different? Consistent programs constantly have turnover yet maintain a standard of excellence.
Lagniappe: Why the numbers? In his MasterClass, investigative journalist Bob Woodward informs that every piece he writes has a minimum of six messages he wants to convey.
Lagniappe 2: Celtics/Heat, flare screen creates corner three or drive for Jaylen Brown, the Celtics' most consistent player thus far in The Bubble.
Lagniappe 3: James Clear on 1% Better