Have you heard the story of how one man transformed British cycling?

It goes like this: The British cycling team had been a notorious under-performer for decades. In the 100 years from 1908 to 2008, British riders had won only a single gold medal at the Olympics, and hadn’t won a Tour de France in 112 years.

But in 2003, they hired a new performance coach named Dave Brailsford who was obsessed with a strategy known as “the aggregation of marginal gains.”

The idea behind the aggregation of marginal gains is that if you can make 1% improvements in dozens of areas, all those micro-adjustments will lead to transformational results. In Brailsford’s words: “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improve it by 1 percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.”

The British cycling team went to work. They redesigned the bike seat. They tested different racing suits to be lighter and more aerodynamic. They had cyclists wear biofeedback sensors to uncover hidden advantages. They used different massage gels to see which one led to the fastest muscle recovery. They obsessed about sleep optimizations, even going so far as to narrow down to the optimal pillow and mattresses for their athletes. 1% improvements everywhere.

The results were anything but marginal. Between 2007 and 2017, British cyclists won 178 world championships, 66 Olympic or Paralympic gold medals, and 5 Tour de France victories. That ten year period is now considered the most successful run in cycling history.

It’s easy to discount the impact of small improvements or changes on the margins. But the lesson is that small improvements can add up. Going to bed 30 minutes earlier every night. Eating healthier lunches and drinking less in the evenings. Journaling for just five minutes every morning. Exercising for 15 minutes every day. Over time the small things compound into huge gains. 

One of the best ways we’ve found to track the aggregation of marginal gains is through a daily journaling practice. That might sound intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. In this 45-second video, Ryan Holiday explains how the habit of daily journaling can connect to other other micro-habits that add up into a transformed life.

What 1% improvement can you make today? What habits can you stack together?

Insights

How to examine your beliefs. Underneath our actions (or inactions) there are beliefs that hold us back. But there is a practice of uncovering those beliefs and letting them go. It starts with asking ourselves three questions: 1) What effect does the belief have on my life? 2) Is the belief actually true? 3) What would it be like without this belief? Zen Habits (3 minutes)

How meditation can make you a better athlete: A new study found that athletes who practice meditation are better able to handle mental fatigue and maintain greater focus during endurance exercises. Outside Magazine (5 minutes)

Seven ways to love better. Daniel Jones has edited The New York Times Modern Love column for 20 years. During those two decades he has received over 200,000 submissions. In this article, he distilled the seven lessons that have helped him the most. The New York Times (9 minutes).

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