The 1% Principle - Softcover

O'Neil, Tom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1775540235 ISBN 13: 9781775540236

Publisher: HarperCollins NZ, 2014

Synopsis

How small steps - literally a 1% change in what you are doing today - can dramatically improve your life and potential.
Almost everyone will experience a sense of 'being in a rut' at some stage in their life. Whether you are stuck in a job you hate or are getting passed over for promotion, whether your relationship has lost its magic or you are struggling with your weight and fitness - these situations over time will sap your motivation and well being. there are many books and programmes which offer ways to immediately turn your life around. the reality for most of us though, is that these approaches simply don't work over the long term. Smaller steps over a long period of time will have a greater, more beneficial and successful effect on your life than bigger steps in a shorter period of time. But how do we identify which changes can have the maximum impact? this book shows you through highly practical exercises, tips and real life examples how you can 'tweak your way to success'.

About this title

About the Author

Tom O’Neil is an international author and award-winning speaker. His articles on personal development and careers have been published in THE ECONOMIST and the HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW. Tom has been a contributor for the last four years to the world’s best-selling personal development guide WHAT COLOUR IS YOUR PARACHUTE? (10 million copies sold). Subscribers in more than 40 countries tune in to his iTunes Podcast on motivation, careers and goal setting.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

The 1% Principle

By Tom O'Neil

HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright © 2014 Tom O'Neil
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-77554-023-6

11
What is the 1% Principle?
Most business and self-development books make a promise of
secret wisdom on the cover, yet only reveal their key points a
couple of hundred pages into the book. Th e 1% Principle is
diff erent. Th is book will immediately give you the key to massively
increasing your business and personal success, then spend the rest
of the book explaining how to implement these principles in a
real-world way.
Unfortunately, most people think self-improvement and life
planning is something only people who own Ferraris do. Th e vast
majority of people spend far more time planning their wedding
day or buying a second-hand car than they do planning their life
and their career.
Th is is why fewer than one in 30 people invest in motivational
books and programmes and actively plan their lives through
formal goal setting. On a positive note, you are probably one of
these people as you are reading these words right now!
Th e 1% Principle focuses on making the transition to a better
and more productive life a lot easier. Achieving lots of 'mini-goals'
over a short to medium period, you can quickly transform what
you achieve and how you want to live.
Th e entire philosophy is very simple. It is based around asking
the following questions:
P Me 'Th e 1% Principle — What is one thing I can do
today to improve my life by 1%?'
P My community 'Th e 1% Principle — What is one thing
I can do today to improve the life of someone near me by
1%?'

The 1% Principle
12
PART
ONE
Unlike a formal goal programme, the 1% Principle is more of
a life philosophy, rather than a tool or resource you draw upon
during a set time. As you become more successful using this
principle, you will start to refl ect on it more and more as you begin
to see positive changes in key areas of your life. Over time, it will
become an inbuilt and automatic way of thinking, helping you
to reach further in your life, without being fully conscious of the
eff ort required.
The butterfl y effect
In 1961, American mathematician and meteorologist Edward
Lorenz was using a numerical formula to assess a weather model,
when, as a short cut, he entered the decimal 0.506 instead of
0.506127. Th e result was a completely unexpected and quite
diff erent weather scenario from what was initially predicted.
From this experience Lorenz coined the term 'butterfl y eff ect',
whereby small changes in an environment (such as the fl ap of
a butterfl y's wings) can have major consequences (a tornado in
Texas).
Th e butterfl y eff ect has its roots in chaos theory and is very
similar to the 1% Principle, as it reinforces the fact that small
initial changes of seemingly minor signifi cance can set the scene
for major transformation.
For example, a decision I personally made to get fi t and lose
some excess weight a number of years ago led me to start jogging.
Six months later, this led to my fi rst competitive (albeit slow) run.
Th is in turn saw me one year later complete the Oxfam Trailwalker,
successfully walking 100 kilometres in under 24 hours.
Little initial decisions and challenges successfully overcome
build a foundation to let you go to the next stage. At that next
stage, new and potentially unforeseen opportunities open up,
which help you to rise even further in your personal development
very quickly.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The 1% Principle by Tom O'Neil. Copyright © 2014 Tom O'Neil. Excerpted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
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Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins NZ
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1775540235
• ISBN 13: 9781775540236
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160