Ideas for improving yourself by 1% every day

March 23, 2021Self Improvement1% Better

I've been running across this idea quite a bit lately. I think I first noticed it when reading through one of the FI Weekly emails. At the bottom of every one of these weekly emails Brad Barrett lists different actions that the Choose FI community has sent in. These actions are different ways that the community members are making their lives better either in regards to financial independence or just in general. Many of them start out with "my 1% for this week...".

After reading through the list of things that this awesome community is up to I was getting really curious what this 1% better was. So of course I plugged "1% better" into the Google machine and found out that the idea of 1% better is championed by author James Clear. He writes about continuous self improvement based on this idea:

If you get one percent better each day for one year, you'll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.

(This is a direct quote from James Clear's page on Continuous Improvement. I encourage anyone who has the time or interest to look into his methods and thinking to do so. It will be worth your time.)

This is a powerful idea for crafting a life which is worth living. While the 37% better you in one year math may not work out exactly if you implement this way of thinking (I'm not even sure how one would measure this to check the math), taking small incremental changes to make your life better is the only way to consistently improve anything in your life.

Practices for becoming 1% better

Now that I've explained a bit of the idea behind 1% better I wanted to record a list of 1% better actions that I could add to my daily routine to make it easier to stay the course every day. Below you will find a list of ideas that I have taken from other sites* which talk about self improvement as well as some of my own that I've implemented. I've attempted to organize each idea into separate categories so that I can make sure that I'm focusing on various areas of improvement.

Spiritual

Spend time in prayer
Do some work that makes the world a better place
Meditate
Read scripture
Visit a new place
Journal
Forgive yourself and others

Financial

Call to see if there’s a discount for paying a medical bill in full rather than making payments
Find an expense you can trim
Save some money
Invest some money
Do some exercise
Don't procrastinate

Mental

Cultivate Gratitude
Be kind to yourself
Engage in self-care
Clean for 30 minutes
Hone your morning routine
Journal
Digital detox
Use positive self talk
Get enough sleep
Forgive yourself and others
Handle your emotions (control your emotions/allow yourself to feel your emotions)
Spend time reading
Do something that stretches your brain
Spend time listening to something educational
Don't procrastinate
At the end of the day to a retrospective
Take care of that task that's been on your list forever

Physical

Stay away from empty carbs
Take the stairs instead of an elevator
Make healthy eating choices
Engage in self-care
Be more active
Eat at least one meal mindfully
Breathe consciously
Get enough sleep

Social

Deepen relationships
Meet someone new
Greet everyone you meet
Practice random acts of kindness
Hone your social skills
Plan something nice for someone
Reach out to someone you haven't talked with in a while

Always forward, never back

In the sprit of always moving forward toward that 1% better I've found that further education and action is always helpful. If you're interested you should check out James Clear's book on forming habits that stick. It's called Atomic Habits and it's definitely worth the read.

Sources *

Below are a few of the sources I have drawn ideas from over time. I'm sure there are others which I have missed. There's plenty of great content out there regarding this idea of 1% better.