Episode 182: The 1% Rule
Dr. Chelsea: Many dancers focus on getting the turns, learning choreography quickly, scoring well in their solo. They don't focus on how to make those things happen. It's all about the daily habits that make the difference. You don't have to make huge strides every day in order to achieve those goals. You only have to work for 1% better than yesterday.
Hi, I'm Dr. Chelsea. This is Passion for Dance, and I'm on a mission to create happier, more successful dancers through positive mental skills, and it takes a lot of positive mental skills to learn how to focus on small improvements every day and not give up when you don't feel like you're making the progress you want. Dancers, if you get discouraged in class or feel like other dancers are learning faster than you are always better than you, listen in today. If you focus on the end result or focus on other people, you'll miss the opportunity for growth. Instead, focus on getting 1% better, and today I'll explain exactly what that means and how you can use the 1% rule for more confidence and growth!
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Hi, I'm Dr. Chelsea, a former professional dancer and mental performance coach. I know what it feels like to be a passionate dance teacher who cares about your dancers, but you want to challenge them and help them be their best, and I also recognize that some traditions and teaching practices in the dance world are harmful. So I'm on a mission to change our dance industry by creating happier, more successful dancers using positive mental skills.
When you understand how to help your dancers with their confidence, how to find their own motivation, work together as a team and more, your dancers will unlock new levels of competitive success and happiness. And it's not just about them; you deserve the same. So we'll talk about how dance teachers can use positive mental skills to be more confident, resilient, and motivated as well.
Be sure to hit “subscribe” wherever you listen to podcasts. There are new episodes every Thursday, and each week you'll hear from me and my guests with advice and actionable tips for building mental toughness, covering topics about mindset, motivation, resilience, and building a community. Passion for Dance is a show designed to help dance educators like you have a positive impact on every dancer you teach.
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Create a New Habit – 2:13
It's easy to look at other dancers and wish you were more like them. “I wish I had their flexibility. They have such presence onstage. I love the way they dance with fire and passion. I want to take the stage with confidence like that.” If you want that feeling, how you train is a habit. You create a pattern around how you show up at the studio, what you pay attention to during class, and how much progress you're able to make. If you want something to be different this year, if you want to see more growth and feel more confident, you might need to make a new habit.
Maybe you want to show up five minutes earlier to every class. Maybe you want to work on your flexibility. Maybe you want better balance or more power in your jumps. Whatever you wish was better, it doesn't have to feel overwhelming or take a lot of time to make the change. When we focus on other people or think that everyone is so much better, it feels like we have a long way to go, and so, we can get stuck. But instead, I want you to think about the idea that huge change in a season happens with just small investment every day.
Change Doesn’t Happen Overnight – 3:16
If you don't think you'll be able to make a big difference in your jumps this season, or there's not enough time to see a significant difference in flexibility, I'm going to challenge that thought process. There is enough time. Change won't happen overnight, but it will happen over the course of your season and over years with just a small investment each day. It's called the 1% rule, and simply put, 1% change each day will add up over the course of your year. One percent is all you need to make that new habit stick.
If you relax and give yourself permission to only improve a little each day, you'll begin to see big strides towards your goal, rather than getting upset with one failed attempt or frustrated when it doesn't feel like you were any better and you can't do it yet. It's important to give yourself permission to improve and permission to fail. It's about the work, the effort, the consistent small steps that add up. When you first start a new habit, you will have good days and bad days. It's important to keep going a little bit every day. Just a 1% change is all you need.
Here's one example from a dancer I worked with a few years ago. She really wanted stronger jumps, but she didn't have the flexibility or power that she wanted to display onstage. So we talked about her goals, and she made the choice to focus on two specific jumps that season that would be in her solo. She wanted them to get better and feel more confident in them, but when she first got her solo choreography, she was worried, felt like the jumps were ugly on her, which for the record they're not, but I understand where she was coming from. She wasn't confident yet.
So we talked about making a habit of working on specific stretches and strength drills and incorporating those into her warmup, and she committed to doing just a few minutes of strength and stretch specific to those jumps three times a week. Sometimes she was early to class to do it, other times she did it at home while watching TV. But the point is, she picked a few specific drills that would help those jumps and committed to small growth every week. The goal was just 1% improvement on the day before. Just 1% lower in the stretch. Just 1% higher in the jump. Toes just 1% more pointed. That's all, 1% per day.
The goal is not to get that skill, and I'll admit it didn't always seem like it was working. Sometimes it would feel monotonous. She had to remind herself of the goal and not to take those drills lightly. But then she was committed, and magic started to happen. She started to see real growth in those two jumps. Her confidence grew. She no longer worried about that part of her solo. You can't master a new skill in one day. You have to improve a little every day. You have to stick with it. You have to do the drills with intention and focus and not quit on the bigger dream.
Here's another concrete example. Consider this idea: if you stand in first position and do a relevé and hold for 10 seconds, 5 times a day, in a year, you will have done 1,825 relevés and balanced for 304 minutes, and each minute you hold will be stronger than the time before. That's a lot more than most dancers would do in a year. If I write one journal entry a day and take up one page, that may not be much. But in a year, that's the equivalent to a novel. It's about small, consistent progress, getting just 1% better than you were before.
And consider this: you can also decrease 1% a day. You can give up one day, skip one cardio training, decide there isn't time for that workout, and say, “It's okay. It's only one day.” It is only one day, and sometimes we genuinely need the break, but every day is only one day, and what you do with that one day is your choice. You don't have to climb Everest every day, but if you put in consistent effort, that will make a much bigger and longer-lasting change than trying to see this huge increase all at once. It's the dancers who have this all-or-nothing mentality about practice that feel so discouraged.
Build Your Confidence by Building Repetitions – 7:19
So if you have new choreography this season that still feels uncomfortable, you're not sure you'll be able to do it, you're just nervous about it, build your confidence by building the repetitions. It's only 1% every day, small, dedicated growth. You'll see the strength and coordination improve, and your confidence will grow with each repetition. I encourage you to use this rule to create any habit, including implementing mental toughness into your daily regimen. You don't have to do everything. Pick one habit and make 1% change every day.
I'd love to hear from you if you try this or you have any questions about confidence and improving your mental skills! Reach out to me at chelseapierotti.com/question. Let me know what's on your mind. Ask me anything! The link is in the show notes below where you're listening right now. Cheers to happier, more successful dancers this season, because you were dedicated to small, daily changes. That's all it takes. I promise you'll see the benefits. Thank you for listening, and keep sharing your passion for dance with the world!
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Thank you for listening to Passion for Dance! You can find all episode resources at www.chelseapierotti.com/podcast, and be sure to follow me on Instagram for more high-performance tips at @dr.chelsea.pierotti. This podcast is for passionate dance teachers and coaches who are ready to change the dance industry by creating happier, more successful dancers. I'm Dr. Chelsea and keep sharing your passion for dance with the world.
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