
Title: The 1% Rule: How to Fall in Love with the Process and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams
Author: Tommy Baker
Rating: 7.7/10 Stars (pretty good book)
Goodreads Synopsis:
In a highlight reel, microwave world — we’re led to believe success is right around the corner.
It’s not working.
Not only is it not working with our ability to achieve our goals, but we’ve also never been more frustrated, stuck, and unfulfilled.
But what if there was a way to shut out the noise, fall in love with the process and take one step forward every single day — leading to an undeniable confidence as we paint our life’s masterpiece?
Enter The 1% Rule — a daily system designed to help you close the gap without the crushing pressure that leads most people less inspired, and more stuck.
The 1% Rule was designed to answer three core questions:
Why do some people seem to achieve massive success in everything they do, while others can’t even get out of their own way?
What separates those who get excited and inspired for a season, a quarter, a month or a week — and those who are consistently on fire?
What are the core principles, mindsets, habits and rituals of those who execute ruthlessly, and those who sit on the sidelines pondering?
…through exploring these answers over the last decade the core principles, strategies and proven framework of The 1% Rule were born and are now yours today.
If you’re ready to ditch the highlight reel illusion…
If you’re tired of sitting on the sidelines waiting…
If you’re frustrated with the 24/7 noise…
You’ve come to the right place.
The 1% Rule: How to Fall in Love with the Process and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams
The concept is easy — become 1% better, each and every single day.
Do you think that’s manageable? Do you think you have what it takes to become 1% better every single day?
I got to be honest, I agree wholeheartedly with the concept of this book. Throughout the book, Baker reinforces the fact that the reason why many don’t achieve their goals is simply due to the fact that they are focused solely on the outcome, not the process that it takes to get there.
As Baker states, “Our expectations are sky high, and we are prone to give up at the first sign of struggles or obstacles”. It’s not the size of our dreams that ultimately determines whether or not we will achieve them. It’s our tenacity, our resiliency, and the strides we make day-in and day-out that will ultimately determine our fate.
Let’s be real, the process isn’t sexy. Nobody wants to go through the sleepless nights, the countless setbacks, or the humility that you expose yourself to when you are pursuing your wildest dreams. We all experience enough judgement and challenges the way it is. All you want is to achieve the dream.
Rightfully so. Your dream is beautiful. It’s everything you could ever imagine. It’s what puts tears of happiness in your eyes when you even think about it. But, it’s also what’s going to remain a very unlikely possibility unless you focus on the 1% rule.
What Is The 1% Rule
The 1% rule simplifies the process it takes to actually achieve your dreams. How? By helping you to forget about only the outcome, and to instead help you to focus on what you can do right now that will help you to achieve your desired outcome and vision.
The rule isn’t about being perfect or suggest that you need to even be good at something. Instead, it focuses on improvement; slow, but steady improvement. It makes you focus on where you are at today and helps you to become just 1% better.
Imagine what it would look like to move the needle forward 1% in every area of your life, every single day. What would your life look like after 30 days? After 90 days? How about after a year?
It’s simple, you would be 365% better in a year from now than you were today. That’s the power of the 1% Rule. It can and will literally change your life.
How Does The 1% Rule Work?
You might be asking yourself, Well, if the 1% Rule works so well, why don’t more people use it? Why haven’t more people closely followed the rule.
At least in my personal opinion, I believe it’s largely due to the fact that we focus too much on immediate satisfaction. We want everything to be given to us the moment it enters our thoughts.
Think about all of the New Years resolutions people set. They want to lose the weight, but when it comes time to put in the work to actually lose the weight, they struggle. Many are expecting the weight to fall right off after a few visits to the gym. They fail to realize that it’s a long and grueling process; one that literally takes blood, sweat, and tears.
So, as we have all experienced something similar before, someone who is wanting to lose weight will tend to get discouraged by the process it actually entails and will resort back to old behaviors. They want the success right away but don’t want to put in the work to get their.
This scenario is exactly why the 1% Rule is effective. It takes away the idea and the thought of instantaneous success.
It doesn’t say ‘This is where you are, here’s what you want to become, and this is how far you have left to go.’ Nor does it say ‘This is how far you have left to go until you’re just as good as so-and-so.’
Instead, the 1% Rule helps you to focus on who you are right this very moment and what you can do to become just 1% better. It replaces your long term goal with a short, but more attainable goal. What’s important to realize, though, is that all of the short term goals you achieve are actually building blocks to your long term goals.
Consistently becoming 1% better over a longer period of time is what’s going to help you to change your life the most. It’s not going to be quick and easy, but just remember when we expect success to be quick and easy, that’s when we tend to give up the quickest because we fail to realize the process it takes to achieve anything meaningful.
Overall Thoughts
Overall, I thought this book was incredibly insightful. I thought it took a simple concept, one that many of us tend to overlook, and made it very relatable.
Baker is right, many of us tend to give up after just a short period of time because we expect our goals to come quickly and easily. But by reading The 1% Rule, it helps you take a step back, evaluate your life a little bit, and put in a plan of action to become just a little bit better instead of trying to run a marathon before first running a mile.
If you are struggling to achieve meaningful goals or tired of constantly giving up on yourself, I strongly encourage you to read this book. It will help you to slow down and focus on steady and consistent growth instead of the instantaneous success so many of us crave.
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