The Mathematical Absurdity of 1% Improvement

 

Photo by Nigel Msipa on Unsplash

James Clear popularized the idea of one percent improvement in his book Atomic Habits. It’s a concept that makes a lot of sense when you start at ground zero.

Take pushups, for example. Suppose on January 1st, you do just 1 pushup. A one percent daily improvement means that don’t have to successfully complete 2 consecutive pushups until day 71 (March 12th). As the numbers grow larger, the progress happens more quickly.

Progression of Pushups over a calendar year

Let’s say you’re strong and can already do 25 pushups at once. If you start with 25 on January and get 1% better each day, you’ll top out at 935 pushups on December 31st. If you start with 50 then you’ll hit almost 1,900 pushups. If you’re trying to beat Charles Servizio’s 46,001-pushups-in-24-hours record, you’re going to have to start with 1,250 pushups on January 1st. Don’t worry though, you only have to improve 1% every day. By December 31st, you’ll beat Mr. Servizio’s record by a cool 500 pushups. No problem, right?

It’s should be obvious that Mr. Clear isn’t talking (for the most part) about an actual, quantifiable 1% improvement in most of our activities. World-class athletes can make incremental improvements, but the world’s top performers get to the point where they often can’t beat their own records.

For anything you do that is remotely quantifiable, a 1% incremental improvement across unbounded time will always lead to a point where 1% improvement is impossible. It’s a mathematical certainty, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn something from the concept of attempting continuous improvement.

Being perfect at anything is as mathematically absurd as daily 1% improvement in one thing for the course of your entire life. Continuous improvement isn’t about attaining perfection. It’s more about developing a mindset of growth and resilience. It’s also about acknowledging that a step forward is a step forward, no matter how small.

Progress doesn’t have to be flashy to matter. Small, consistent steps bring more value than sprinting toward unattainable ideals. Continuous improvement, even when it’s less than 1%, is about showing up, doing the work and appreciating the journey. 

You’ll never know what’s on the other side of that 1% horizon.