I don’t set big goals any more. I just don’t believe in the value of it. I know everyone says you should have goals and they should be big and scary and audacious.
In contrast, I ask myself only one question when I’m trying to find out what goals to pursue.
What’s does 1% better look like?
In many ways, this is the one question to rule them all. We all want to achieve the big sexy goals. But when we get down to it, we get scared by the size of those goals.
We say we want sales to double but we don’t know which actions will take us there. We say we want to start our own business but we don’t know how to begin. So we get stuck. We feel paralyzed and then we do nothing. We just sit and wait.
But what if you asked yourself: What’s 1% better each day?
Maybe you would consider making 1% more calls each day. Or you would think of asking your current customers how you could improve by 1%. Or you would try to get people to buy 1% more in your store.
That’s why the 1% better question is powerful. It helps you focus on the tiniest improvement possible that will take you in the direction of where you want to go. You don’t have to get overwhelmed. 1% is instantly manageable and achievable. And over time, it stacks and becomes unstoppable. 1% better each day for an entire year is a whopping 37x better at the end of the year.
When next you’re setting a goal, think small. Ask yourself:
What does 1% better look like for me today?
A New Source Code 