Over the years, I’ve written many times about Dave Brailsford (well, he was plain old Dave when I first mentioned him) and his theory of marginal gains. It was a simple idea: the cumulative effect could be extraordinary if you made just a 1% improvement in many small areas. As British cycling’s gold medal haul demonstrated, it was.
It's 20 years since Brailsford became Performance Director of British Cycling – and marginal gains were sought right across the board.
The improvements covered every part of the cyclists’ lives, from physical fitness to nutrition to sleep and – when they were awake – race tactics.
The bikes went into a wind tunnel – where it was found that they weren’t sufficiently aerodynamic. Even accumulated dust from the mechanic’s truck harmed the bikes’ efficiency.
Hypo-allergenic bedding and mattresses travelled with the team to ensure they had the same quality of sleep wherever they were. And years before Covid, British Cycling used antibacterial hand gel to reduce the risk of infection.
Marginal gains take us easily on to this week’s subject – and something very dear to several TAB members’ hearts: James Clear’s Atomic Habits, ‘an easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones.’
The premise of Atomic Habits is simple: success is the product of daily habits, not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.
Real change – exactly like Brailsford’s marginal gains – comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small changes. It comes from putting the right systems in place. Goals are the results we all want to achieve, but habits (or systems) lead to those goals.
And – another favourite of mine from the book – time magnifies the margin between success and failure. Good habits make time your ally: bad habits make time your enemy. As any number of business leaders and gurus have told us, success comes from repetition. And what’s repetition? A habit.
Let me give you a simple example – with some very basic maths.
You’ve just put down the latest bestseller. ‘I could have written that,’ you tell your loving wife (ignoring the sceptical look…)
A book’s 80,000 words. Eighty thousand! But let’s break it down: let’s turn it into a habit – a system that produces the desired goal. If you write 250 words a day, the book will be written in 320 days. So take Sundays off, and this time next year, the book’s done. You can look smug: your wife can look impressed/astonished/suitably chastened.
I’m sure that’s one of the reasons why Atomic Habits is so popular with TAB Members. It recognises the reality of working life. The book is a good example: 250 words a day is achievable. And it’s realistic. You can do it before breakfast. It won’t stop you from being at your desk by 8 am.
But one of the most interesting – and inspirational – things about a book like Atomic Habits is that – for me at least – it simply confirms that there’s nothing new. The fundamental truths of business always apply.
‘Success is the product of daily habits – not once in a lifetime transformations?’
‘Genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration.’ A saying we’ve all heard a thousand times. But aren’t they effectively saying the same thing?
The book also underscores what’s right at the heart of TAB.
It’s now nearly 13 years since I pushed my breakfast to one side in Newport Pagnell services and decided that something had to change. A few months later, I joined The Alternative Board, which explains why the 10th-anniversary party of TAB York will be held in July.
Thirteen years – and yet there are still days when I pinch myself at the idea of peer-to-peer coaching and support. There are still times I attend TAB meetings and marvel at what I see around the table. So incredibly simple: so incredibly effective – and writing about the power of habit underlines it for me.
Build good habits? Break bad ones? Small incremental gains? Repeating what works, ruthlessly stopping – or correcting – what doesn’t work? Does success come from consistency over the long term, not a sudden breakthrough?
Isn’t that exactly what your fellow board members tell you monthly? And checking the next month to make sure you’ve done it? As I say, there are still days when I pinch myself – and as long as I’m in business, I’ll go on pinching myself.
Let me end where I began, with Sir David Brailsford. What’s Dave up to now? As some of you may know, he’s the Sporting Director of Ineos – Jim Ratcliffe’s company that is trying to buy Manchester United. Sadly, another team won’t win a trophy for the foreseeable future. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as an old habit re-asserts itself. As the sporting clock rewinds inexorably to 1955…
