The 1% Rule Explained: How Hitting Snooze Could Cost You a Week

What does the 1% rule really mean?

Well, like compound interest, it means that you can get 1% better everyday and over time this compounds, so 1% eventually becomes 2% which becomes 4% etc.

I usually apply this to business but today I want to apply this to life.

To be successful at life you need your behaviors to move you towards 1% improvement. Any decision towards improvement, however small, is still improvement.

Let’s use some practical examples.

Goal: first thing in the morning do productive activity X (walk the dog, go to the gym, meditate, pack a healthy lunch, beat the traffic, etc.).

It’s Monday. Your alarm goes off. Three choices:

1. Get up and do your goal.

2. Get up and do your usual.

3. Snooze.

Let’s explore these.

Option 1: Get Up and do Activity X.

The “get up to complete activity X” option leads you towards improvement. The discipline to get up when you need to, to start your day the way you have decided you want and need to, is the magic of the disciplined. It moves you towards that thing that you deemed important. You are 1% better today. You just improved yourself, even if slightly.

Option 2: Get up and do your usual

This is your baseline. Getting up and engaging in your normal routine is your status quo. It’s what you need to do to stay the same. So, this decision is not helpful or hurtful. Based on your goals, its neutral. Doing this every day will make you 100% unsuccessful. Or 0% successful. Whichever of those sounds worse for you.

Option 3: Hit snooze

This takes you below your baseline. It starts your day behind the eight ball. It has you rushing through your morning routine, or skipping some important steps. You lost 1%, or say, 8 minutes.

So, Monday is over, what does this look like on Tuesday?

Well that depends on how you apply ongoing discipline to your goal.

We can leave Option 2. If you do that everyday, nothing ever changes. That might be fine. You are not worse, but not better.

But, for the others:

Option 1: You get up and do activity X again. Now you are 2% closer.

Option 3: Snooze.

Snoozed Yesterday? You are now -2% from your goal.

Did “normal” yesterday? You are now -1% from your goal.

Did your goal yesterday? You are now at baseline. 0% from your goal.

Hopefully you get the picture.

Let’s fast forward to the end of the week.

Where you are should this continue?

Well, if you are an Option 1 person, you are 7% closer to creating a habit or behavior that is sustainable. In three weeks, you are 21% towards 100% improvement.

If you are an Option 2 person, you are the same. No growth, no change. In three weeks, you will be exactly as you are.

If you are an Option 3 person, then you likely toggled and bobbed around your baseline. Some days you won, some days you lost. Depending on how far you are below your baseline you will have more work to do than someone who didn’t move at all. You are likely less than 0% successful. That sounds bad. You changed, just not for “your” better.

It can be hard to represent how the 1% rule works, but this graph attempts to demonstrate the difference between doing that “small thing” every day instead of “nothing” or worse, something that takes you in the opposite direction.

But let’s also look at the use of time.

Option 1 people used the time they budgeted to do the thing they wanted.

Option 2 people spent their time as they always do. I hope they are happy with that.

But Option 3 people? They lost anywhere from 7 minutes if they snoozed one day to 49 minutes if they snoozed every day (and that is assuming they only hit snooze once, not twice at a time). 49 minutes is almost an hour. They lost an hour of intentional productivity, or maybe gained an hour of interrupted sleep. Which is better? Well, over a year that is almost 52 hours of lost productivity.

But this is also avoidant, and when snoozing they lost confidence, likely engaged in negative mental chatter, and made their day slightly worse. I suspect that impacted far more than just “didn’t do activity X.”

What does all this mean?

Behavior change takes effort yes, but intention, discipline, and consistency through small changes need to come first.

If you want to be successful at changing your behavior, then consider:

1. Writing down your goal. Make it intentional.

2. Decide how you will achieve it. Make it reasonable.

3. Think about what might get in your way (i.e. hitting snooze). Make a plan to remove that barrier.

4. Keep track of your progress. Make a chart showing your diligence and discipline. Forgive yourself when you miss a day or two.

5. Pick an accountability partner. Tell them your goal. Ask them to help you stay the course.

For example, if you know that you are a “snoozer” consider Phase 1 of your goals to be “stop snoozing.” Give yourself a week or two to get up on time and to be consistent with that. Then, move to Phase 2 and so on.  

How can you apply this to business?

The ways are endless. That’s a phone-call discussion. Give me a ring.