have you ever felt stuck like no matter how hard you try you just can't seem to get to your goal it's frustrating you said big Ambitions for yourself maybe you want to hit the gym every day wake up at 5:00 a.m. cut out sugar and junk food read a book A Week basically become a better version of yourself overnight you want change now for a while it feels great you're on fire motivated and determined nothing can stop you and you don't know how you lived any differently before but gradually something happens the excitement and momentum
start to wear off you hit a wall you get tired you miss a gym session sleep through your alarm reach for the burger and fries instead of the salad and before you know it all those goals you were so passionate about one by one fade away until you're left feeling like a failure and right back at square one it's a cycle that many of us know all too well the truth is you've been doing self-improvement wrong it's not your fault it's often what the media and marketing sell to us an idea of a perfect routine
person or life it dangles this perfect life like a carrot in front of us and makes us want it the problem isn't that you're not trying hard enough the problem is that you're trying to change too much too fast there is one fundamental trap that we fall into with self-improvement and that is All or Nothing mentality we set these huge ambiti ious goals because we like to dream big and we think that's what it takes to change our lives and while big goals are important the issue comes when we try to achieve them overnight and
all at once when you think you need to overhaul your entire life in one big swoop you're really just setting yourself up for failure but why surely it should just take discipline to stick to the plan and Achieve our goals but it just doesn't work like that it's a classic case of biting off more than you can choose it's overwhelming you're essentially asking yourself to unlearn your past habits leave all your old routines and mindset behind and build an entirely new life no wonder it feels like such a struggle let's break down what happens after
the initial burst of motivation Fades you start missing the odd workout here and there you choose to stay in bed for an extra half an hour skipping the time you set aside to work on your goals to scroll on your phone or get distracted by anything else slowly you start feeling like a fail and that's when you tell yourself maybe I'm just not cut out for this and you quit altogether opting to go back to your comfort zone how you've been sabotaging yourself the chances are if you relate to this cycle then you've been unknowingly
sabotaging yourself self-sabotage often comes in the form of unrealistic expectations you might see someone else's success on social media and that you either think it looks easy so you Dive Right In or you feel pressure to match that level of progress fast the truth is nothing is easy when you compare yourself to others and expect instant results you're setting yourself up for frustration and inevitably failure maybe you're setting huge goals without breaking them down into manageable steps or you haven't prepared or planned enough for the more difficult times the problem is is that you're relying
too much on Willpower hoping that sheer determination will be enough to carry you through but willpower alone is not enough in fact the more you rely on Willpower the more likely you are to burn out that's why so many of us get stuck in this cycle of starting and stopping feeling like we're not getting anywhere why do small changes matter what if the key to success was actually doing less not more enter the 1% rule a simple but powerful concept founded by author and Coach Tommy Baker instead of trying to become a completely different person
overnight focus on doing 1% better each day think about it like this if you improve by just 1% each day by the end of the year you won't be just a little better you'll be 37 times better than when you started small improvement over time leads to overall growth Tommy Baker even wrote little hinges swing big doors meaning it's the small things that come together to make the biggest impact without small hinges or changes there wouldn't be a door or in this case growth stopping the cycle so how do you stop the cycle well the
answer is is simple small steps it's about progress not Perfection you don't need to overhaul your entire life in one day you can just make small sustainable changes that are easy to stick to then once they become a habit move on to the next small change instead of committing to an intense gym workout every day start really small with a 10-minute walk you can then build on this as you get used to the routine instead of trying to meditate for 30 minutes start with three these are are small initial actions that may seem insignificant but
they add up over time and more importantly they're sustainable you can actually keep up with them this approach works because you're not overwhelming yourself you're building momentum prioritizing the process over the outcome which will not only help you stick with it but it's going to make the process more enjoyable too getting small winds in this way will start a ripple effect and will help you build your confidence as you get more confident in yourself you'll find yourself naturally wanting to take big steps to your goals what is the ripple effect when you commit to small
improvements you're not just changing one aspect of your life you're starting a ripple effect a 1% Improvement on your health leads to more energy which leads to better productivity which leads to more confidence and that confidence leads to better relationships greater opportunities and an overall deeper sense of fulfillment it all starts with the first small step and the best part about it is that it's completely sustainable as you slowly change what your normal is you're not having to rely on motivation or willpower anymore you're building habits and those habits are shaping your life how to
start it's important to Define what 100% looks like where is the end goal from here you can start mapping out the road to this 100% what does each of those 1% steps look like for you you're going to want to Leap Forward and throw yourself into it like you've always done we get it the potential to getting to that 100% better you is exciting but you need to be realistic your small steps could be as simple as drinking an extra glass of water writing an extra 100 words taking a 5minute walk once you've mastered one
change add another build them up slowly you can even use techniques like author James clear's habit stacking this is where you group the small changes or habits together to form a routine when you associate one habit with another this makes it easier to remember to do there's less friction to doing good things for yourself over time the small changes will make you start to snowball into bigger results it's not about perfection but the process and the progress you make each one% building on the last until before you know it you're you but better can you
see now how you've been doing self-improvement wrong all this time why years of trying huge changes to your life has resulted in repeated failure and lack of confidence it's a difficult cycle to break but we've covered all you need to know to get started the All or Nothing trap and the self self sabotage that's been holding you back we've seen how important it is to break the cycle with small sustainable changes as well as the benefits of a ripple effect there are many ways you can start to use the 1% rule in your life tell
us one small change you're going to make today in the comments down below and I'll see you next time
