1% Extraordinary

There is a myth out there that the human mind uses only 10% of its horsepower in order to run the body, organize thought, problem solve and otherwise survive in the general sense. This thinking is flawed at its core but, for a second, pretend that isn’t the case. In the same way that the average American reads only one book a year, if the average person only used 10% of their possible brain power if you were able to get your brain up to 11%, just a single percent, that would make you extraordinary, right?

There is a coffee shop near my house that I go to a lot and over the holidays I needed to grab some gift cards and when I walked into the store the man behind the counter said “Hey Eric, would you like your usual?” On its own not a profound question, except I never go into this store ( I use the drive-thru) and have no idea who this guy is — but he takes customer service seriously and made an impact by simply remembering my name and my drink. I watched as he did this for most of the customers who came in that day, here is the thing, he only went 1% farther than everyone else at that store, what happens if he went 2% or 3% farther? What if the other team members picked themselves to be 1% better? Would that be the most sought after coffee shop in the city?

The thing is being 1% extraordinary isn’t really that difficult because most people are too selfish or too self-involved to even care about other people. I know this because we tell stories about great customer service in the same way we talk about the show “Finding Bigfoot.”

So what if you working on being 1% better today at something, remembering names, birthdays without using Facebook, your co-workers family members, or even a stranger at your coffee shop’s favorite drink. 1% at a time for an entire year, which means by the end of the year you would be 365% better than you are while you are reading this.

That of course, is the problem with resolutions.

We attack them as full meals; we go for all 365% on day one and fail by day eight. But if we are in it for the long haul, not the 3-day cleanse, the quick fix, or the diet version we can see sweeping change in our life a minute at a time, an hour at a time, a day at a time, all adding up to one big change.

What is your 1% extraordinary?

When can you start?