The inspiring story of British Cyclists and their 1% improvement strategy

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Improving by 1% or getting worse by 1% each day sounds immaterial, right? Think again.  1% better or 1% worse every day, when compounded, makes a big, big difference according to Atomic Habits by James Clear.

If you get 1% better each day for 1 year, you’ll end up 37 times better by the year is done.

1% every day for 1 year: 1.01365 = 37.78

Conversely, if you get worse 1% per day, you’ll end up with zero.

1% every day for 1 year: 0.99365 = 00.03

1% improvement everyday can transform non-winners to world record breakers.   Case in point - the inspiring story of British cyclists.

Since 1908, for 110 years, the British had just won a single gold medal in Olympics and zero win for Tour de France.  Then in 2003, a new coach named Brailsford was hired.  His strategy was to continuously search for tiny margins of improvement.  Brailsford's exact words were - “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improve it by 1 percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.”

What kind of 1% improvements did the team make?  Here are some -

- Redesigned the bike seats to make them more comfortable

- Rubbed alcohol on the tires for a better grip

- Asked riders to wear a special kind of shorts

- Used sensors to monitor how each cyclist responded to workouts

- Tested various fabrics against the wind to determine which is lighter and more aerodynamic 

- Tested massage gels to see which one resulted to fastest muscle recovery

- Hired a doctor to teach the cyclists on the best way to wash hands to minimize risk of catching a cold

- Determined the type of pillow and mattress which helped the riders sleep better

All these small improvements resulted to astounding results.  How astounding?

In 2008 (5 years after), the British cyclists won 60% of the gold medals in the Olympic Games in Beijing.  😮💪 In 2012 in London, they set 9 Olympic records and 7 world records. 😮💪  (Prior to the 1% improvement strategy, I just want to remind you that they had so far only won 1 gold medal in 110 years.)

From 2007 to 2017, British cyclists also won 178 world championships and 66 Olympic or Paralympic gold medals and captured 5 Tour de France victories. 💪💪💪  (Again, prior to the 1% improvement strategy, I just want to remind you that they have never won any Tour de France.)  

Incredible, right?!!!  Such phenomenal results for continuously seeking out tiny improvements even in various unexpected areas. 

Applied to more simple scenarios, Clear said -
Imagine the body you can build if you don’t stop training;
The knowledge you can build if you don’t stop learning;
The fortune you can build if you don’t stop saving;
The friendships you can build if you don’t stop caring.

So whatever good habits you have now, just imagine the compounded effect if you continuously seek out 1% improvement. 💪