The Simple Math Equation That Can Change Someone’s Life For The Better, According To A Stanford PhD
It's surprisingly simple.
Ridofranz | Canva Pro Sometimes we face problems that seem like they'll never go away or get better, but would you believe that math could actually hold the key to making your life better? Sounds tricky, but it's a lot simpler than you think.
Entrepreneur Meng Weng shared the trick she learned from a friend with a Doctorate from Stanford: If you focus on improving any problem you have by 1% every day, by the end of the year, you'll be 37 times better than where you are right now.
According to a Stanford Ph.D., this simple math equation can transform your life.
Weng took to TikTok to recount how, when she was working at Uber before the rideshare company really took off, she was venting to a co-worker about work stressors. The co-worker, who she described as a friend with a Stanford Ph.D., shared how he used a simple math equation in his daily life to change his entire perspective.
"If you just improve the problem by 1% a day, at the end of the year, after 365 days, you're going to be 37 times better than where you are today," he said to her.
This shocked Weng, so she and her friend entered it into the calculator to confirm he was correct: 1.01 to the power of 365 is approximately 37. This math equation inspired her to take the first steps toward her dream of becoming an entrepreneur.
She encouraged others to do the same when facing challenges in their lives — just 1% every day is all it takes.
While 1% doesn't seem like much, slow progress is still progress.
Often we beat ourselves up over not making as much progress as we would like, but remembering the old adage "slow progress is better than no progress" can be important.
When we criticize ourselves for not meeting our expectations, we make things worse. Would you rather have someone kick you when you're down or encourage you to get back up?
This isn't just a matter of personal opinion. Harvard Business Review stressed that incremental progress helps our engagement in the work we do.
That positive perspective is integral to productivity in general. The outlet noted, "If a person is motivated and happy at the end of the workday, it’s a good bet that he or she made some progress. If the person drags out of the office disengaged and joyless, a setback is most likely to blame."
B.J. Fogg, the founder of the Behavioral Design Lab at Stanford University and the author of “Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything,” explained this concept to the New York Times. He said, "Tallying up victories, even little ones, can be motivating."
In his research, Dr. Fogg found that most people were eager and willing to say, “I did a bad job,” and had very few ways of saying, “I did a good job.” That is inevitably demoralizing and does not inspire movement or change in the right direction.
The key to both the 1% equation and to changing your life for the better is to keep moving forward.
Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase; just take the first step.”
It's easy to be deterred from our goals and let problems pile up when we don't instantly get the results we want, but this equation helps us remember that even the smallest progress is worth celebrating. In order to get to the finish line, you have to start the race.
So next time you're feeling down about the way things in your life are going, remember that if you start putting in the work to change by just 1% a day, you will be 37 times better off in a year.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.