Brian Johnson breaks down marginal gains: tiny optimizations that compound into big wins, like how Team Sky dominated the Tour de France. Test what works in your daily routine and amplify it. Cut what doesn't.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. Once upon a time, no British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France. Over a hundred years of trying and precisely zero wins. Then a guy named Sir David Brailsford stepped in and created Team Sky. He said that a British cyclist would win the Tour within five years. People thought he was crazy until they won it in two years. Then for good measure, they won four of the next five races as well. How'd he do it? Marginal gains. He looked for all the tiny little places where he could optimize. Things like making sure the riders uniforms were always washed in the same skin. Friendly detergent for just a little more comfort. Things like making sure the riders always slept on the same exact mattresses every night and to give them the best shot at a good night of sleep. Things like making sure the hotel rooms were always properly vacuumed to reduce potential infections. Tiny little things. Any one gain wouldn't do a whole lot, of course. But as we know, when you aggregate and compound enough of those tiny little incremental optimizations, magic happens. In this case, Tour de France victories. As Brailsford puts it via Matthew said in Black's box thinking I I realized early on that having a grand strategy was futile on its own. You also have to look at the smaller level. Figure out what is working and what isn't. Each step may be small, but the aggregation can be huge. Guess what? The same rules apply to our lives. A grand strategy, although important, is futile on its own. We need to go granular and figure out what's working and what isn't. So today's +1. What's working for you? Do more of it. What's not working for you? Do less of it. Specifically, do you have a better day when you begin your day in a certain way? Do you have more energy when you eat less of X and more of Y? Do you feel better when you exercise or go to bed by a certain time? What other data can you collect? Test it, get feedback. Look honestly at what's working, eat and at what's not, and dial it in. Find the marginal gains. Not complicated, easy to overlook, but super powerful. Here's another echo. When we aggregate and compound marginal gains over an extended period of time, we get extraordinary gains in cycling. That's what separates you from the pack and leads to Tour de France victories in life. That's what separates us from our old selves so we can actualize our potential. Here's to marginal gains. One plus one plus one. Isn't it a bit odd that we went from math to science to history but somehow missed the class on how to live. For some wacky reason, optimal living 101 never made the schedule. Of course it's too late to go back and change that it and you're too busy to read full time to catch up. But if you're like us, you're all about optimizing your life so you can actualize your potential. So imagine this. Imagine having someone read the best books on how to optimize your life and pull out the big ideas that can really change your life. You know those sections? You underline an asterisk and mark all up. Then imagine that guy me connecting those awesome ideas to other great books and helping you actually apply the wisdom to your life today. Well, that's what I do with something we call Philosopher's Notes where I've distilled hundreds of great books into 20 minute super practical summaries. Then imagine me taking the absolute best big ideas from those great books and sharing them with you in hour long Optimal Living 101 classes. Everything from productivity, purpose and confidence to nutrition, goal setting and conquering procrastination. Helping you optimize every facet of your life so you can actualize your potential. You've got a personal trainer. I'm kind of like your personal philosopher. Ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools. That's what our optimized membership program is all about. If you're feeling it, we'd love to have you join us.
