1% better

This is words from Alfred, CFO of Zappos as well as a great friend of Tony Hseish, and now he is one of VCs in the Sequoia Fund (many interesting things about this fund, google it guys :D)

“…remember improvements don’t have to be dramatic. Think about what it means to improve just 1% per day and build upon what every single day. Doing so has a dramatic effect and will make us 37x better, not 365% (3.65x) better, at the end of the year.

Wake up every day and ask yourself not only what is the 1% improvement I can change to make Zappos better, but also what is the 1% improvement I can change to make myself better personally and professionally. In the end we, as Zappos, can’t grow unless we, as individual, grow too."

Imagine yourself making 1% changes everyday that compound and consequently make you and Zappos 37x better by the end of the year. Imagine if every employee at Zappos was to do the same. Imagine how much better you, Zappos and the world will be next year.”

The road to success is short. Only 1%. Only one more try. Only one more improvement. Whatever you are trying to do: study harder, build up a business, find a job…One more page of reading will help, spending fifteen more minutes to think will help. One more resume will help.

Reading this reminds me a quote from Will Smith, 

“You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say “I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built.” You say, “I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as brick can be laid. You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall.”

Let’s stop the small guy in your mind saying to you.
“That’s not gonna work.”
“Just a vain try.”

He has no authority to decide what you can do and who you can become.

Let’s lay your brick perfectly today.