In 2024 I started to run. I have never ever wanted to be a runner, didn’t see the point to it, but people said I should give it a go… and guess what I didn’t find it awful. What was awful was how far I couldn’t run and secondly the speed that I could run. Doing the “couch to 5km” achieving 5km felt like something that wasn’t even possible to get to.
But slowly I chipped away at it, chipped away at running that little bit quicker. Chipped away at running that little bit further and then the 5km came. Then that 5km became quicker and quicker and easier and easier. No one wakes up one Monday and decides to run a marathon on Tuesday with no training… but that’s how I initially thought about approaching couch to 5k…
If I had only listened to one of my favourite topics in business and that’s about marginal gains.
It’s that 1% improvement we can make everyday to our lives and what we do that will make the whole picture and thing better.
Sir Dave Brailsford introduced this with the UK cycling team, little things like by experimenting in a wind tunnel, he noted that the bike was not sufficiently aerodynamic. By analysing the mechanics area in the team truck, he discovered that dust was accumulating on the floor, undermining bike maintenance. So he had the floor painted pristine white, in order to spot any impurities. He also noticed that the riders at times weren’t sleeping as well on some nights compared to others, so on researching they then started to take mattresses around so the riders had the same bed each night which meant for better sleep.
Now I am not saying in business we should travel with our own mattress – but with many of us heading back to work today, what marginal 1% gain can you make that on the face of it might not appear a huge change but by if you find that 1% everyday what would the end of the year look like?
