Welcome back to another episode of Cliff Notes, where we break down essential business insights to help you succeed. My name is Brandon Clifford, I'm your host. And today we're gonna talk about something incredibly powerful. It's oftentimes overlooked, however, it's, it's the power of small wins. Now, don't get me wrong, we all love big goals, right? Oh, I want to build a multi-million dollar business. I want to have 100,000 followers on social media. I want to be the best in my industry. Now that, now these are all great aspirations, but here's the problem, guys. Big goals alone don't create success. It's the small consistent daily actions that actually make them happen. So I recently attended an event at uh the the International Franchise Association convention in Las Vegas. It was a great event. Uh, the keynote speaker of that event was James Clear. He's the author of a book called Atomic Habits, and you know, from the main stage, he gave a great presentation. I'm gonna share a little bit of it here today, some of the notes that I took, uh, but he, he had an awesome quote. He puts it perfectly. He said, James Clear said, you don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. I'm gonna say that again because it's so important. "You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems." So if you're someone who's ever felt stuck, overwhelmed, or like success is just taking too long, this episode's for you. So today we're going to cover a few things, we cover 3 big things, right? One, why big goals fail without small daily actions. Number 2, The 1% better everyday approach that James Clear uh shared with me at IFA and the real world, some real, some real world examples, 3rd, 3rd and most of all real world examples of companies that have grown through small strategic moves. All right, so let's dive right in, right? So again, like I said at the beginning of this conversation, I love big goals. Um, I think if you're not setting goals, you, you, you have no direction, you're never going to get there, right? But let's let's let's be real for a second. Most people never reach them, right? Even when I'm setting goals on my team, I actually always say, you know, typically you're going to come in about 75% of your goals. So let's set our goals a little bit higher, right? So why does that happen? Put it simply, goals don't create results, right? Consistent habits do. So let me give you an example of that. Let's, so let's say you, uh, you know, set a goal, you want to get in shape, you wanna be in the best shape of your life. You wanna lose 30 pounds this year, OK? And you, you feel motivated, sign up for a gym membership, maybe even get some new workout gear, and for the first few weeks, you go hard, you know, you're crushing it. Then life happens. You get busy, your motivation fades, and suddenly, Your goal is sitting on the shelf with all those other abandoned New Year's resolutions. Does that sound familiar? Uh, it happened to me. I'm sure it's happened to a lot of the audience here today, right? And it's not because you didn't want it badly enough. Everybody wants to lose 30 pounds, right? It's because you didn't have a system in place for small, consistent wins to get you there, right? So now let's flip it around. Instead of saying I want to be in great shape, some or high, pie in the sky, big audacious goal. What if you just commit to doing something ridiculously small, like, I'm going to do 5 push-ups today. And then I'm gonna do 5 push-ups every day after that, right? Just 5 push-ups, right? Can you do 5 pushups? Sounds almost too small to matter, right? But here's the thing, here's where, here's where it happens, right? Once you start doing 5 push-ups, then you'll be able to do 10. Then maybe you can do 20. The small wins build momentum. Momentum beats motivation every single time. So the same thing applies to business. You don't, you don't build a seven figure company overnight. You do it by showing up every single day and making small improvements. This leads us to one of the most powerful principles and success. It's the 1% rule. I talked about, you know, James Clear shared for the main stage of IFA. We'll talk a little bit about that, kind of give you a little bit of a synopsis of what he shared with us. It was a great, great keynote. Um, that's the, the, the, the 1%, the idea, it's, it's in performance coaches that if you can get 1% better every single day, it's simple math, you get 1% better every single day by the end of the year. You will be 37 times better than you were on day one. So it's, it's compounding small improvements just like compound interest in your bank account, right? So again, 1% better every day, equals 37, 37 times better by the end of the year, right? So think about it like this. If you can improve your sales skills by 1% each day, over the course of a year, you're gonna close more deals than you ever have before. If you can improve your marketing strategy by 1% each day, your brand is going to grow exponentially. If you improve your leadership, leadership skills by 1% each day, your entire team will thrive, right? So it's these small incremental progress that it adds up much faster than you think. OK, so James Clear gave a great example at the main stage at IFA. He talked about the British cycling team, right? And so it's an awesome story I mean, I guess over 100 years. Britain was terrible at cycling, just terrible. They never won a Tour de France. They're barely placing in Olympic, you know, competitions. Um, but then in 2003, they hired a new coach. His name was Sir Dave Brailsford. Uh, and he introduced a strategy called marginal gains. OK. And so Sir, Sir Brailsford said that instead of like trying to revolutionize everything at once and just, you know, throw it all out and and change it, they're gonna, they're gonna focus on tiny improvements in in in all the small areas. So they started doing things like um having slightly lighter bike seats. They, uh, they were, they started testing different things to have more aerodynamic clothing. Um, they even went as far as to like have come up with a new way of washing their hands to avoid illness, and then they did a lot of sleep study and stuff to to improve improve uh improve their sleep routines by 1%, just 1%, get 1% more sleep each day. And so at first, these changes were very, very insignificant. They didn't see anything happening. But after a few years, the British cycling team, they went on to dominate the sport. They won over 60 Olympic medals, I think it was 66 total between between 2008 and 2020. So 100 years, nothing, right? And then they then over the course of 12 years, 66 Olympic medals. Then they won the Tour de France, they have the highest, the most prestigious race in all of cycling, 5 times over 6 years, 5 times in 6 years. So those small improvements applied consistently created massive success. So let's look at a few different examples now this is in business um of how it can apply there as well, right? So first, you know, perfect example is Amazon, right? When, when Jeff Bezos started Amazon, he sold just one thing. He was selling books online. That's it. It's a bookstore, an online bookstore. He didn't try to be the biggest retailer, the biggest company overnight. He focused on one small strategic thing and and that's it. And then then they improved one small strategic improvement at a time, so they optimize their supply chain. They improved their their recommendation algorithm, and then they focused on speeding up delivery times to where today these small improvements they've compounded over time and Amazon is the dominant force in retail, right? I mean, they, they know what you want to buy before you want to buy, you know it yourself. Right? So, I mean, that's a perfect example of just small, tiny improvements that will compound over time and where it can get you. Next is McDonald's, um, super consistent, right? When McDonald's first started though, they weren't trying to be a global empire. They focused on one thing. They're making their processes 1% more efficient every single day. They streamline their kitchen process to make sure that the burgers came out consistent, you know, on good time, right? The, the, they want to speed up their time, right? Um, in the same every single, every single time as well. Then they improved the way they handle their drive-through. Get people in and out, drive-thru was revolutionary at that time. And they really simplified their menu and only did it with, with only did these items that they knew they could get out in the, in the, in the time and the process that they wanted, right? So they focused on these small operational wins, and they led them to be the largest fast food franchise in the world, right? You know, final example, Apple. Apple is relentless. On their focus of small design changes that I think I just had an Apple update on my phone last night, right? Uh, but it's funny, a lot of people, you know, think Apple invented the smartphone. They didn't. Apple did not invent the smartphone. But what they did is they made small, continuous improvements that made them the best. OK. They focused on better user experience to continue every single day, minor tweaks to improve your user experience, simple interfaces, right? Smaller, more powerful devices that can fit in your hand and your pocket, right? Each of these tiny improvements has made Apple's products more desirable, and they, and they become the most valuable brand in the entire world. Right, so, so what's your takeaway from all this, right? So I mean, put it simply, big success doesn't come from big leaps, it comes from small consistent wins. So if you focus on just getting 1% better every single day, you'll be amazed at where you're gonna be a year from now, right? So ask yourself, I want you guys all to ask yourself leaving here today, what's one small thing that I can do today. To improve my business. Like what's what's one tiny habit that I can commit to? That will make a difference in my life over time because success isn't built overnight, it's built daily. All right guys, that's the note for today. Thank you so much for joining me. Um, if this episode resonated with you, make sure to subscribe to Cliff's Notes, um, share this with someone who, who you think might need this message today, and, and let them know, you know, what's the, what, tell them what's the one small win that you're working on right now, you know, to share that with with another person, of course, that makes it real, right? So, and as always, just keep growing, keep improving, and I'll see you on the next episode.
