James Clear

They had two different types of fabrics.

They've got like indoor racing suits and outdoor racing suits.

And they tested those fabrics in a wind tunnel.

And they found out that the indoor fabric was lighter and more aerodynamic.

So they asked all of their riders to wear that fabric.

They even had all their different riders test, you know, like a bunch of like maybe a dozen different types of pillows.

And then they see which one led to the best night's sleep for each person.

And then once they figured that out, they brought that on the road with them to hotels for the Tour de France and so on.

And

Brailsford said something like, if we can actually do this, if we actually make all these 1% improvements related to cycling, then I think we can win a Tour de France within five years.

He ended up being wrong.

They won the Tour de France in three years, and then they repeated again the fourth year with a different rider.

And then after a one-year break, they won three more in a row.

So after having never won for like 110 years, they win five of the next six.

And I like to use that story as an introduction to this idea of getting a little bit better, making these 1% improvements.

For a couple of reasons.

The first is it shows you that excellence a lot of the time, maybe we can even say most of the time, is not actually about radical change.

It's about a commitment to accruing small improvements day in and day out.

Secondly, and I think this is also crucial, it encourages you to focus on trajectory rather than position.

There's a lot of discussion about position in life.