The 1% Incremental
I have always been fascinated with those people who have reached the sporting pinnacle against all odds. It gives you hope and encouragement when you observe the dynamics of sporting achievements and the unique vibe that comes with each sport. As some famous person said once... or maybe just my neighbour said… if we didn’t have sports, we’d have wars; so thank God for sport.
Many spiritual writers have used sport to explain our struggle for sanctity. St Paul being the most obvious one. “I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 7). There’s something quite satisfying when comparing the spiritual struggle to the sporting struggle. There are a lot of similarities.
FOCUS ON the 1%
I came across this article once on the “1% incremental”. It’s about the head of British Cycling, Sir Dave and his quest for the Olympic Gold. When he came on board the cycling team was not doing well. It would need a colossal level of input to get them to win the gold. But Sir Dave decided, with conviction and utter tenacity, to focus on the 1% incremental. If we can just improve by 1%, he pondered (paraphrasing here), we would eventually reach 100%. So they started focusing on different elements of the sport, and this is where it becomes interesting – they didn’t just focus on cycling, they focused on everything: diet, mental health, the outfits they wore, etc. Everything and anything that could give them that marginal improvement.
I have to say, this way of acting helps a lot when we think of our own lives. In the Beloved Retreat, we talked about this idea. After a retreat, we can have some great resolutions, sometimes ambitious ones, but really and truly, where the rubber hits the road is in the day-to-day, beginning, again and again, bit by bit, improving in this and that, and the other. The trick is intentionally wanting to improve and setting goals to do this, even if they seem tiny.
St Josemaría called this the “particular exam”. It sounds like you are taking an exam but you’re actually making yourself accountable for a goal set. This concept is not new to St Josemaría, it has been doing the rounds – so to speak – for hundreds of years. There is a chapter in “The Way” that talks about the particular exam. It’s very helpful to give it a read and apply it to your life.
“The general examination implies defence. The particular, attack. The first is your armour. The second, your sword.” - St Josemaría.
So for the cycling team – they needed both armour and sword. It wasn’t enough to have armour: to be fit, to cycle well, etc. They also needed the sword: to proactively pinpoint areas that would give them that advantage above all other teams. To give them that edge.
And in many ways, our spiritual life is the same. What are the 1% increases that I can do that will make the difference? Tiny, imperceptible perhaps but nonetheless very helpful. It also makes our spiritual life far more interesting and doable because it’s not only about defence – keeping ourselves afloat, trying to cover all areas – but about proactively going out there to seek Our Lord in tiny little ways.