It is easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis.
We often dismiss small changes because they don’t seem to matter very much at the moment.
But when we repeat 1 percent errors, day after day, by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results. It’s the accumulation of many missteps—a 1 percent decline here and there— that eventually leads to a problem. If during a flight takeoff from LA, en route to New York, the pilot decided to adjust course 3.5 degrees to the south, the plane’s nose would move just a few feet and it would end up in Washington, DC, miles away from New York.
However, If you can get just 1 percent better each day, you’ll end up with results that are nearly 37 times better after one year.
Being a student in the 21st century is not fun. With the n number of deadlines, you are overworked and exhausted all the time. Making small routine changes like :
sleeping/eating on time, controlling caffeine intake
cutting down on study MARATHONS. We target to finish an ENTIRE book within the 12 hours of the night but can’t. The average Attention span is 40 minutes. Without a break after 40 minutes, you begin to wear out and lose your target, which further demotivates you
Our education system best suits the traditional learner. Find your style and plan your study around it :
Visual Learners should draw flow charts, diagrams, use colors and highlighters
Audio Learners should make acronyms, rhyming words, refer to audiobooks
Busting the ‘Overnight Success’ Myth
When we struggle to build a good habit or break a bad one, it is not because we have lost our ability to improve. It is often because we have not yet crossed the Plateau of Latent Potential.
When you finally break through the Plateau of Latent Potential, people will call it an overnight success. The outside world only sees the most dramatic event rather than all that preceded it. But you know that it’s the work you did long ago—when it seemed that you weren’t making any progress—that makes the jump today possible.
“We often expect progress to be linear. This can result in a “valley of disappointment” where people feel discouraged after putting in weeks or months of hard work without experiencing any results. However, this work was not wasted. It was simply being stored. It is not until much later that the full value of previous efforts is revealed.”
James Clear, Author, Atomic Habits
Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. You get what you repeat.
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.
Student’s Takeaway Research has shown, starting small makes new habits more likely to stick. If you can get just 1 percent better each day, you’ll end up with results that are nearly 37 times better after one year.