The 1% Rule: How to Fall in Love with the Process and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams

Book Review: 2/5 Impact On Me (Book By Tommy Baker)

Read more about the book here

The author talks about the value of compounding. When you make progress, it inspires you to make more progress. This was also seen in the diaries of knowledge workers. I agree with that. Small steps build momentum.

The author says New Year's resolutions don’t work well. People expect grand gestures to bring change, but real progress comes from daily habits. I agree. I’ve been making yearly goals for 3 years now. The first time, I wrote them after half of the year had passed. The second time, in January or February. The third time, in February again. Although I missed deciding my annual goals before the year started, I’m fine with all of these. I focus on 1% improvements, no matter when I start.

The author says if you improve by 1% every day, it adds up to 365% a year. I find that a bit unrealistic. Usually, when we say 1% better every day, we mean compound growth. Not linear.

I followed the book's activity and scored myself on a scale of 1 to 10 (excluding 7) in these areas:

• Health, vitality, well-being

• Business, income, impact, influence

• Relationships, connections

• Spiritual, higher sense of purpose

  
  

That helped me identify areas for improvement.

The author suggests a few steps to follow the 1% rule.

1. One is to track progress using metrics.

2. Another is to celebrate small wins.

   
   

My take: I already track my progress. I’m good at building small, daily habits. But I haven’t thought about celebrating progress. I’ll think about how to do that.

The author says doing something daily is easier than doing it occasionally. I agree. I try to shape my goals into daily actions.

They also suggest starting with 20-minute focus sessions. I already do that using the Pomodoro technique every day.

The author warns: if you don’t fill your day with high-priority tasks, others will fill it with low-priority ones. That hit home.

They made me reflect:

• How clear am I about my goals?

• How committed am I to them?

  
  

I worry I might be setting only 1% higher goals, instead of having a big motivating vision. Is that ok?

These 3 questions stood out:

1. What’s my current level of expectations for my life?

2. What’s my commitment to that?

3. What’s one gap between my commitment and my expectations?

   
   

For me, one gap is that I get distracted during work or in the evenings when I end up surfing YouTube on my laptop. I need to stay focused for longer stretches of time.

Another gap is about family. I want to feel more emotionally connected with them. For that, I need to be more efficient during the week so that I can have more free time on weekends with my family.

One thing I can do right now to show commitment: speed up my workout. I’m already exercising—might as well push a little harder.

The author says we should have a crystal-clear vision. But I don’t fully agree. Life keeps offering new, unexpected opportunities. Things change every year or even every month. So I’ve tried creating a vision, but I’m not sure if it’s the ultimate answer. For example in Designing Your Life: Build a Life that Works for You

I do like the advice to not over-plan. Don’t aim for perfect analysis—it can lead to paralysis. Instead, focus on the next small thing. Just do the 1% improvement you can do today.

The author echoes advice from Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman: we live like we have infinite time, but our lives are limited. Another point I liked: everyone’s too busy thinking about themselves to worry about what you’re doing. So don’t hold back out of fear of what others might think.

The author talks about being seriously ill with yellow fever and focusing on one thing. It reminded me of the approach in SuperBetter by Jane McGonigal. In tough times, clarity can come from narrowing your focus.

Another good prompt:

What’s your sense of urgency toward your goals?

For me, it’s low. I believe in slow, stress-free growth. But maybe I’m spreading myself too thin across too many things because I’m okay with each one going slow. That is something I need to rethink.

One thing I didn’t like: the book glamorizes sacrificing sleep and chasing big goals. I used to believe in that. But after reading Four Thousand Weeks, I no longer do. So those parts of the book didn’t resonate with me.

Overall, the book had a 2 out of 5 impact on me. I already knew many of the productivity and habit ideas. And the rest didn’t match how I now think about life and work.