Should we all be looking for marginal gains?
The concept of marginal gains has been widely adopted in sports to improve performance. The principle is that small incremental improvements in any process amount to a significant improvement when they are all added together.
The concept came to prominence in 2012 in the world of cycling.
In 2010 when Dave Brailsford was the new General Manager and Performance Director for Team Sky (a British professional cycling team), Team Sky were the also-rans in world cycling, described by one pundit as “a laughing stock”.
Brailsford believed in the concept he referred to as the “aggregation of marginal gains” and explained it as “the 1% margin for improvement in everything you do”. Rather than concentrating on the achievement of one large change, he looked at the individual components.
Team Sky optimised the obvious factors: the nutrition of riders, their weekly training program, the aerodynamics of the bike and rider, the ergonomics of the bike seat and the weight of the tyres. But they went further: discovering the pillow that offered the best sleep for each individual rider, testing for the most effective type of massage gel, teaching riders the best way to wash their hands to avoid infection. They searched for 1% improvements everywhere.
The result? In 2012, Team Sky rider Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France. In the following month, at the 2012 London Olympic Games, Brailsford coached the British cycling team, which won over two-thirds of the gold medals available. Notwithstanding the recent Fancy Bears’ disclosures, with rider Chris Froome the team has continued its real success in subsequent Tours de France.
The Law of Marginal Gains is a way of achieving success not only in sport but in almost every other endeavour. Instead of looking for the large and dramatic improvement, consider the compounding effect of small 1% improvements in habits and decisions. Do not underestimate the value of making better decisions every day, creating new or improved habits that are meaningful in the long run.
Where are the 1% improvements in your life?
September 2016