Stop Optimizing For The Last 2%

So, I was at a conference or an event here in Denver, Colorado, this past weekend and a good friend of mine, James Clear, who is an author and wrote the book called Atomic Habits was there. And he was talking about how to build habits and he said this quote, that I want to share with you today that really kind of hit home for me and I think we’ll hit home for you as well.

He basically said, stop optimizing for the last 2%. And his example came around health and fitness. You know, you often find people that are looking to go and start getting healthy and start exercising and they start asking questions like, hey, what type of protein powder do you use?

Or what kind of supplements do you use?

And he basically said look, if you’re asking those questions, that’s you trying to optimize for the last 2% of the process when really, how about you get good at going to the gym every day, right?

Because you adding the protein and you doing the supplements isn’t going to do anything if you’re not already going to the gym consistently and building that habit.

So where in your business right now, are you optimizing for the last 2% when you’re not really focused on what’s really important of the building of the habit, right?

So he then said, habits have to allow you to see the success.

A lot of people think the habit is success, but by doing the habit, that has to allow you to see the success.

The common example here is Jerry Seinfeld. He said that he would write jokes every single day and he would put an x on the calendar if did he write jokes that day.

And when you start looking at the calendar and you do this consistently, you see a chain of red x’s on each and every day, and the goal then becomes to not break the chain, right?

So the habit is to write jokes every day and the habit allows him to see the success because he’ll see that he’s written jokes every single day.

And that starts to add up and compound.

Just like if you start going to the gym every day, you’re going to start to see gains. You’re going to start to lose weight, you’re going to start to build muscle, assuming you’re actually working out when you’re at the gym, right?
Just like if in your business you start thinking about what you really want from your business, you start implementing systems each and every day. You start writing that email and sending it to your email list every single day. Doing those small things and checking them off every single day, you’ll start to see the patterns of success.

So the message to you today is to stop worrying about optimizing for the last 2%.

It doesn’t matter what software or fancy new tool is out there right now. If you’re not doing the work that is going to come from using that tool in the first place.

So stop worrying about the protein and the supplements if you’re not already going to the gym every day.

I want you to comment below this video.

Where in your business right now, are you optimizing for the last 2% but you’re not doing anything to build the habit where it really matters in that 98%?

If you just kind of want a slap in the face and say, hey, pay attention to the 98% not the last two.

This is how we start to see progress and results.

And if you’re looking to surround yourself with fellow service providers that are looking to launch a new course or a group consulting program or group coaching. Go from one to one to one to many. We would love to have you in our free Facebook group called the scalable service provider.