Have ever wondered why our experience on Earth is based on incremental change? Why doesn't God just explain everything all at once and then send us out to be tested? Why does He "give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little?" Is there something about doing things incrementally that is more effective and more powerful than single transformative moments?
Certainly, we can see in practical terms why brushing your teeth a few minutes every day is more effective than for an hour on Sunday, but can the same principle hold for our spiritual development? Elder Bednar teaches “Small, steady, incremental spiritual improvements are the steps the Lord would have us take. Preparing to walk guiltless before God is one of the primary purposes of mortality and the pursuit of a lifetime; it does not result from sporadic spurts of intense spiritual activity” (Clean Hands and a Pure Heart, Bednar, 2007). Clearly, God wants us to incrementally improve, but how do we do that when there are so many things we need to change?
Elder Michael A. Dunn provides an answer in his 2021 General Conference Talk "One Percent Better." In the talk, he tells the story of British cycling which had such poor performance that they had only a handful of gold medals in over 100 years of Olympic competitions. Their performance was so bad that bike manufacturers refused to even sell them bikes fearing it would tarnish their brand. That changed in 2003 when they hired Sir Dave Brailsford to coach them Elder Dunn explains.
Unlike previous coaches who attempted dramatic, overnight turnarounds, Sir Brailsford instead committed to a strategy he referred to as “the aggregation of marginal gains.” This entailed implementing small improvements in everything. That meant constantly measuring key statistics and targeting specific weaknesses.
Brailsford’s small gains began with the obvious, such as equipment, kit fabrics, and training patterns. But his team didn’t stop there. They continued to find 1 percent improvements in overlooked and unexpected areas such as nutrition and even maintenance nuances. Over time, these myriads of micro-betterments aggregated into stunning results, which came faster than anyone could have imagined.
British cyclists have now won the storied Tour de France an astonishing six times. During the past four Olympic Games, Great Britain has been the most successful country across all cycling disciplines. And in the recently concluded Tokyo Olympics, the UK won more gold medals in cycling than any other country (One Percent Better, Dunn, 2021)
By focusing on one thing at a time and aggregating their 1% improvements British cycles transformed themselves from laughable to world leaders in cycling. Would that same approach work for you? James Clear says the math is on your side. He says “habits are the ‘compound interest of self-improvement.’ If you can get just one percent better at something each day, by the end of a year … you will be 37 times better.” Elder Dunn teaches "Rather than being stymied by the churn and dramatic swings between sin and repentance, what if our approach was to narrow our focus—even as we broadened it? Instead of trying to perfect everything, what if we tackled just one thing?"
Performance vs. Perfection
Tackling one thing at a time will help you avoid the perfection trap — feeling like you can never fail. We addressed this in Week 2 when we discussed the joy of daily repentance, increasing the slope of your line, and weakness vs. rebellion. Hopefully, you've built on that foundation and expanded it, but there is a danger that in trying to be 100% responsible you might slip back into the mindset that you must be perfect. To counteract that try adopting a performance mindset.
A performance mindset means that like an athlete or musician, you practice regularly to be ready for a game or concert. When mistakes happen you evaluate what went wrong, talk to your coach, and adjust your practice to overcome it. With a performance mindset, you do NOT believe that through sheer discipline or mental toughness alone you will be ready. Rather you successively build skills through deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice is purposeful and systematic, it improves a specific skill until it is automatic. The following video illustrates how to use deliberate practice.
