The Power of 1% Shifts: Or How One Coach Beat the Odds

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April 4, 2014

a project of ServiceSpace

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment; full effort is full victory.

- M.K. Gandhi -

The Power of 1% Shifts: Or How One Coach Beat the Odds

Imagine a scenario where you set your goal to win the Tour de France in five years time--and instead, you do it in three, and win it twice in a row. Not only that, your team goes on to win 70 percent of the Gold medals at the Olympics in the very same year you break your record for the Tour de France. Sound like a dream? This is what happened for the British cyclists on Team Sky when instead of focusing on large-scale impressive improvements in the time set aside for training, they set their sights on the immense power released in small, "1 percent" improvements, or "shifts," in their daily life, or what their coach refers to as the "aggregation of marginal gains." What they found was that the seemingly small decisions we make at every moment have a powerful effect over time-- and this aggregated effect can act as the key to achieving our highest goals. { read more }