Break Any Personal Record With the +1 Theory of Human Achievement

Fellow Riskologist,

What holds you back the most? If you have a dream you haven’t realized yet, what keeps you from pursuing it?

Typically, it’s a fear of failure. No one wants to set a goal they don’t believe they’ll actually reach. And if you continuously set goals that are too high, you set yourself up for repeated failures that can do big damage to your confidence.

But if you set a goal that’s too low, you artificially limit yourself to a ceiling that’s well below what you’re actually capable of, and may get stuck in a rut of under-performance.

These are not risks I would find acceptable, but what’s the solution? Read on to learn.

The +1 Theory of Human Achievement

Setting useful and measurable goals had always been something I struggled with. But a discovery I made a year ago while developing a new exercise routine for myself revealed a strategy that works incredibly well.

I call it the +1 Theory of Human Achievement, and any athlete who’s tried to set a personal record will already understand exactly how it works.

When I want to increase any metric of my life these days, I start with a baseline:

“Where am I now?”

The answer to this question, of course, is that I’m well below what I’m capable of, but measuring the baseline—something to compare against—is an important part of the +1 Theory.

From there, the strategy is as simple as it gets:

“Improve by one with each attempt.”

I first used this strategy when I was dissatisfied with the number of pull-ups I could do—just five. Using the +1 Theory, though, I was able to measure my baseline and challenge myself to do “just one more” pull-up each time I attempted them.

In three months, I went from a personal best of five pull-ups to 15.

If you want to improve any metric in your own life, first figure out what your baseline is. Then, challenge yourself to improve by just one unit with each new attempt.

Longstanding Psychology Research Validates the +1 Theory

In the late 60s, a group of university researches—Locke, Lantham, et al.—set out to learn about the effects of goal setting and how to best set them for maximum achievement.

You can read the full study that—at one point—appears to have even been classified by the U.S. government for use in motivating public employees.

Their findings are not so surprising today, but at the time, they were quite revolutionary:

A specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound (SMART) goal was more likely to produce motivation and achievement than a vague or unspecific one.

My +1 Theory of Human Achievement fits perfectly into the SMART template. It applies to a very specific pursuit, is easily quantifiable, and is deceptively attainable.

When you convince yourself that each time you attempt your goal you only need to beat yourself by one unit of measure, the distance between success and failure is so close that success becomes the automatic default. You refuse to let yourself down over one measly unit, and almost always find a way to pull out a success.

The magic of the +1 Theory is not in completing one simple challenge to yourself, but in completing that challenge a little better many times in a row. And the added benefit is the accumulation of self-confidence that cannot be ignored as an important part of the equation.

For years, I’d set fitness goals for myself that were “stretch” goals—well above my current ability, but not out of the realm of possibility.

I rarely met them.

Once I started using the +1 Theory, though, I began to meet my goals in a new way. I passed by old goals I’d never achieved before using other methods. Before, they were hard. Now, they seemed simple.

I do not believe I’d have tripled my max pull-ups if I’d just said, “I want to be able to do 15 pull-ups in 3 months.”

What to Do When You Hit a Plateau

One hiccup you may run into using The +1 Theory is you’ll eventually hit a plateau where achieving “just one more unit” actually becomes quite difficult.

From my example, I ran into this problem at 11 pull-ups. All of a sudden, I simply could not go from 11 to 12. The distance between one unit was too great.

So, I simply changed the unit! Instead of measuring in 1 pull-up increments, I measured in 1/4 pull-up increments.

Since I couldn’t do 12 pull-ups, I set my eyes on 11 and 1/4. This, of course, was no problem. The next time I attempted them, I went for 11 and 1/2. The result? 12 pull-ups. You see, once you’ve done 1/2 a pull up, the muscles you’re using change and finishing actually becomes quite easy. Soon enough, I’d blasted past 12 pull-ups and was on to 15.

If I hadn’t changed the unit of measure, I may have never gotten past 11. As I came to the bottom of that 11th pull-up, my brain would be convinced I did not have the strength to complete one more, and I would give up prematurely.

If you have a hard time beating your record by one, then “one” is probably too big. Make it smaller and try again. This is a simple psychological trick.

How can you use the +1 Theory of Human Achievement in your daily life? Let me know in the comments.

Yours in risk-taking,
Tyler
Founder, AR