How To Be Better Than Yesterday

"He only is a well-made man who has a good determination. And the end of culture is not to destroy this, God forbid! but to train away all impediment and mixture and leave nothing but pure power." - Ralph Waldo Emerson


Do you believe it's possible to be 1% better today than you were yesterday? Think about it. What would it mean to be 1% better? You might say sure, of course! Or you might believe its not possible. Suspend judgment for now, simply consider the possibility and what it would mean.

To be better by 1% is not a literal concept I employ here, but more of a practical theme. The essence of "being better" would mean that if I am at least 1% more effective today than I was yesterday, then the challenges I faced yesterday will seem easier today. For example, if yesterday I was flustered and overwhelmed by client demands and objections to my product or service, then today I will be less so. Essentially my task becomes easier because I have become greater. Compounded over a period of days, weeks, and months you can imagine how powerful this principle can be.

Additionally, to be 1% better would mean that you can now extend yourself and take on greater challenges or aim at loftier ambitions. Because, we are better today than yesterday we naturally will want to be challenged, and will have an affinity to take on greater projects. The effects of the 1% better creed would create a "steady state" (to borrow a term from biology) were we would teeter between be overly powerful at handling yesterdays task, and not yet fully competent at dealing with the increasing demands of our evolving goals. This 'growth tension' is the optimal path which professionals should seek to continually create value for themselves and their respective endeavors.

The 1% creed can and should become part of your daily due diligence. Some of the ways to guarantee investment into your 1% daily growth are as follows:

- improve your vocabulary
- improve the sound of your voice
- improve your ability to articulate what you think and feel
- focus on listening to how people say things, not just the content
- learn to read a new, previously ignored, non-verbal communication from people
- learn about properly managing a certain emotion
- learn 2 new questions that can help close a sale
- learn how to play a different interpersonal role
- make 1 new friend and learn something interesting about them
- learn to 1 new way to harmonize your body
- eat a healthy meal instead of a your usual non-healthy one
- do something that frightens you, but that you know is worth the effort
- give more of yourself to others
- learn 1 new thing about your profession
- learn 1 new thing about self-management...

This list can go on forever, but you get the point. Everyday you can even break it down to getting a 1% fix for your body, mind, and profession. Before retiring for the day ensure that the 1% marks are hit. The principle is so subtle, yet so powerful that it could ultimately be the biggest difference in success or failure. Think about the cost of not becoming better. If we don't become better, by default we become worse. In biology and science they call it entropy. A system that does not absorb new information will only lose information and decay into inert energy-less matter. What makes us different than a mere inanimate system is that we have a choice. The choices are 1) gather new information and grow; or 2) lose information and decay.

Angel Armendariz

Your Brain Might Be Falling Apart

According to Neurologists there are three main factors that contribute to neuroplasticity. This is the ability of the brain to reorganize itself, adapt, and grow. Neurogenesis (a form of neuroplasticity), explains Ernest Rossi is activated through novelty, environmental enrichment, and physical exercise. In his landmark book The Psychobiology of Gene Expression, Dr. Rossi attributes this adaptability to the action of genetic mechanisms, termed activity-dependent gene expression. Thus by taking in a hefty dose of these three brain growth elixirs we become more mentally capable, more healthy, and in a more harmonious state.


Novelty involves new information, or learning. New information is the very substance of all growth and development. Whether we're talking about innovation in business, governmental reform, or personal development; new information yields growth, learning, and possibilities. The deluge of information disposable to the average person on earth today in general is astounding. Never before has information been so disposable. Information is the most valuable commodity in existence; its return on investment is staggering. And rightly so; not only do we use information to grow and to gain knowledge consciously, but all organic life is dependent on information for existence. What is the opposite of information increase?

Entropy...remember that from biology class, it has to do with the breakdown, decay, of systems; the weary second law of thermodynamics that dooms all matter to death by loss of information and energy. Eminent biophysicist Werner Lowenstein, in his work The Touchstone of Life, poignantly explains how to battle the malaise of time's arrow, "There is only one way to keep a system from sinking to equilibrium: to infuse new information...Thus, to maintain its high order, an organism must continuously pump in information."

So we thus have a clearer understanding of the need and tremendous benefits of novelty through information. We also tend to see more insights and knowledge from fields such as physics and biology. Which give us incredible models of efficacy. We tend to see a pattern though, or a lag time between the time we discover an insightful method in the working of nature and the universe, and the time we see the same pattern arise while studying ourselves, our business, economy, and other sociological systems.

It might make more sense to study the ways nature has developed schemes to deal with progressive existence, as opposed to studying the subject within itself; and closely mimic, or devise models that cultivate the insights gathered by such inspection. In a recent interview with the Harvard Business Review, economist and business consultant Paul Ormerod compares business strategy with evolution, he says, " Companies should embrace the inherent randomness that drives success and failure...The companies that are most able to explore and innovate - something akin to random mutation - and then rapidly and flexibly adapt when an innovation succeeds or fails, will do best."(italics added).

To "explore" and "innovate" is precisely what novelty is about. So by directly participating in neurogenesis by learning, creativity, or gathering new information you are putting yourself in a better position to succeed in business, and life overall.

excerpt, Untitled, by
Angel Armendariz