As a Surrey resident and cricket fan, I was very sad to read of the death of Surrey and England legend, Graeme Thorpe this week, at just 55 years old.
The word legend gets bandied around in relation to people far less qualified to receive the accolade than Graeme – who scored 16 centuries in 100 tests for England, and made over 300 appearances for Surrey across 17 years.

Some people are born with natural talent but still need to work hard to achieve what we conceive as ‘mastery’.

There’s a well-trodden belief that you need to spend 10,000 hours practicing your craft to truly achieve this.

I’ve seen plenty of business people with natural talent who just didn’t quite have the discipline to scale to the next level.

It’s easier than you might think to get there though, and can easily be achieved by implementing simple daily changes, consistently over time, as brilliantly detailed by James Clear in his game-changing book Atomic Habits.

Here are four examples of how to make 1% incremental changes daily to improve both your life and your business:

1. Health: Improve Your Fitness Routine

    • Incremental Change: Add just one extra minute to your daily exercise routine each day.
    • Impact: By gradually increasing the time you dedicate to exercise, you’ll build endurance and strength over time without overwhelming yourself. For instance, if you start with a 10-minute workout, you’ll reach 20 minutes in just 10 days.
2. Productivity: Enhance Focus and Work Efficiency
    • Incremental Change: Reduce distractions by eliminating one non-essential task or interruption each day (e.g., turning off social media notifications for an extra 10 minutes).
    • Impact: This small change can significantly improve your focus and productivity. Over time, you’ll train your brain to concentrate better, leading to higher quality work and faster completion times.
3. Learning: Build Knowledge and Skills
    • Incremental Change: Commit to learning just one new fact, concept, or skill related to your business every day.
    • Impact: By continuously adding to your knowledge base, you’ll compound your expertise over time. For example, reading one page of a business book or watching a short instructional video daily can significantly expand your skill set within a year.
4. Networking: Strengthen Business Relationships
    • Incremental Change: Reach out to one new person in your industry or reconnect with a contact each day.
    • Impact: Consistently expanding and nurturing your network can open up new opportunities for collaboration, learning, and growth. Over time, these small efforts can lead to stronger business relationships and more opportunities

Book a free 45-minute session with me today or Click Here for our NEW 6 Steps Scorecard and discover how well you’re doing in the 6 key areas of business success.

While I have you…

1. Read about the Power of Tiny Gains from James Clear here

2. Watch Bounce by Matthew Syed – The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice.