The Power of Tiny Gains
by Meg Smith
As a follow on from last week’s article, ‘Optimising Recovery’, this week’s article is centred around ‘The Power of Tiny Gains’. An idea and framework developed by James Clear.
James Clear is a well-known author, speaker, and productivity expert, best known for his book "Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones."
The central theme of Clear's work revolves around the idea that small, consistent changes, or "atomic habits," can lead to significant personal and professional development over time.
In "Atomic Habits," Clear explores the science of habit formation and presents a framework for understanding how habits work. He emphasises the importance of making tiny changes, focusing on small improvements, and implementing habits that are easy to start.
Perhaps one of the best-known applications of this concept into professional sport was delivered by Sir Dave Brailsford with the Great Britain Cycling Team. When Dave Brailsford was appointed Performance Director of British Cycling, he faced an uphill battle. The team had been struggling to perform, limited by their “big picture” view of winning. They had failed to reach the Olympic podium for several decades. Sir Brailsford pledged to shake up the status quo, taking the team back to basics with marginal gains. By addressing each athlete’s individual weaknesses, he developed the team enough to win two gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. After moving from British Cycling to Team Sky, Sir Brailsford was also the monumental force behind their 3 Tour de France wins over a period of 4 years. So, something about this philosophy and approach must work, right?
Credit: JamesClear.com
If we look at the Power of Tiny Gains, along with Sir Dave Brailsford’s Marginal Gain theory, it is easy to understand that these concepts are extremely effective when applied to our everyday lives. In a training context, assessing and understanding where we’ve got the greatest room to improve, and using these as an opportunity for growth, we will ultimately experience improvements in our performance.
Sleep:
If we commit to going to bed 30 minutes earlier every night, that would mean 3.5 extra hours of sleep per week. Over a year, that’s 182 extra hours of sleep. Divide that by 24, that’s an extra 7 full days of sleep over the course of 1 year – just by making the choice to get 30 minutes of extra sleep per night.
Periodisation + Training Zone Adherence:
Consider training zone adherence. If we committed to improving our adherence to training zones by 1% per workout (with an average workout length of 60 minutes), that’s only 36 seconds per hour. If over the year we train for 500 hours, we end up accumulating 300 minutes of training in the correct zone. Committing to spending an extra 5 minutes in the prescribed training zone per hour would add up to over 2000 minutes spent in the correct zone over the course of a year! The maths is simple…
When considering that the fundamentals of recovery are sleep, nutrition, and periodisation, then committing to 1% improvements in each of these areas every day will result in exponential changes in performance over the course of a year.
Here are some ideas for implementing marginal gains in different areas of life:
Daily Habits:
Identify small habits that can contribute to your overall well-being, such as drinking more water, taking short breaks to stretch, or practicing mindfulness for a few minutes each day.
Productivity:
Use productivity tools and techniques to save small amounts of time throughout the day, like keyboard shortcuts, task batching, or using productivity apps.
Optimise your workspace for efficiency and organisation.
Learning and Skill Development:
Dedicate a small amount of time each day to learning something new or practicing a skill.
Break down larger learning goals into smaller, manageable tasks.
Fitness and Health:
Make small adjustments to your diet, such as incorporating more vegetables into your meals.
Increase your daily physical activity by taking the stairs, walking short distances, or doing quick workouts.
Relationships:
Practice active listening and small acts of kindness in your relationships.
Set aside dedicated, focused time for quality interactions with loved ones.
Professional Development:
Attend short workshops, webinars, or read articles to gain incremental knowledge in your field.
Seek feedback on specific aspects of your work and make targeted improvements.
Mindset:
Cultivate a positive mindset by incorporating small gratitude practices or reframing negative thoughts.
Challenge yourself to step out of your comfort zone in small, manageable ways.
Environmental Impact:
Make small changes to reduce your ecological footprint, such as using reusable bags, reducing water consumption, or recycling more.
Communication:
Focus on improving small aspects of your communication, like maintaining eye contact, using positive body language, or refining your email etiquette.
The key is to identify specific areas where small improvements can be made and consistently apply these marginal gains over time. Over the long term, these incremental changes can lead to significant improvements and success.
References:
https://champions-speakers.co.uk/news/ultimate-guide-marginal-gains#:~:text=Definition%20of%20marginal%20gains%3A%20The,British%20Cycling%20team's%20recent%20success.
https://jamesclear.com/continuous-improvement