Intro
I know you are familiar with it. I am even convinced that you have come across this idea many times. Namely, “every day better by 1%”. Sounds convincing, right? The matter and the idea itself are straightforward. Its very name says that all you need to do is to be better every day by a dizzying 1% than the previous day. What if that’s not all? What if there are other ways to “be better”? Can there be something better than this self-tyranny? Many different thinkers have pondered the problems associated with constantly improving oneself and reducing one’s life to whatever metrics can be quantified. Today, we will begin a journey where we will look at the idea of “better every day by 1%”. We’ll lift the veil, uncover the hidden costs, and pose some questions for ourselves, leaving them as food for creative reflection.
1% better every day!
As in the introduction, the idea is very simple. All you have to do is be 1% better every day. The math is undeniable here. Let’s quantify your life to the dizzying value of 1.01 - that’s your entire life. Then let’s see what it looks like if we are better every day by that paltry 1%.
1.01365 = 37.78
See? At the end of the year, you’re almost 38 times better than you were. Okay, fine. However, it is difficult to do something every day and improve.Holidays, illnesses, laziness, and other pressing matters. Also, let’s assume that we work only 5 days a week on ourselves, which makes 232 days:
1.01232 = 10.06
Magic! We continue to be better by a factor of ten! As you might have observed, the magic of 1% is very simple. It offers us linear growth first, and then, with the help of compounding percentages and the snowball effect, allows us to achieve order and growth in a non-linear and chaotic world. This idea gives the promise of small but continuous efforts, which, after a long time, are supposed to give a sense of agency and control. It is, quite simply, surrendering one’s life to numbers, planning, and constant self-improvement. Improvement that has no end. It sounds like kaizen philosophy from companies, but even here, there is an end. Namely, the moment you leave work and relax without thinking about your workplace. The most important thing, after all, is progress. Improving yourself for the sake of improving yourself. An endless loop of work for work’s sake. Doing a decent piece of good work that no one needs. Not even yourself! It doesn’t matter the goal, just have a system.
Let’s escape from freedom
On the other hand, the system in which we live prompts us to ask ourselves the rather important question, “Are we sane?”. Erich Fromm asked himself this question some time ago and even wrote a book on the subject, and in fact, more than one. Fromm openly criticized modern industrial society, which, shaping social norms, has created a kind of “pathology of normality”. Man is reduced to a tool, a cog in the machine. People, according to Fromm, do not see themselves as persons, but through the prism of professional success, positions, or other roles. Conformism as a pressure to fit into society leads to “escape from freedom”. Critical thinking is put aside; what is important is the safety of the fragile ego in the crowd. This system, combined with conformism and the reduction of humanity, creates a dangerous mixture that creates the illusion of freedom. The constant optimization by being 1% better every day serves to reinforce the system, not the authentic development of the individual. Such an empty focus on self-improvement results in additional privatization of alienation (as you can see, everything can be privatized). Because I have, because I can, because I can hang another diploma or medal on my wall. This ignores the exploitation of relentless work and the pressure of achievement, which simultaneously translates into burnout. Systemic problems are privatized and profits are distributed, but not necessarily to the hardest-working people. It’s worth taking a moment to reflect at such times, and instead of blindly striving to be better in every strange area that can be quantified, it’s worth asking yourself, are these my goals? Is it my personalized idea or one imposed by the system and society. Instead of conformism, it’s worth considering non-conformism and rejecting the cult of overwork and burnout in favor of spending our free time in our own way, the way we like.
I can quantify everything
The idea of being 1% better is most often associated with some kind of metrics. Whether it’s reading a specific number of pages of a book, the number of steps per day, or other, more or less subtle quantifiers. However, focusing on easily measurable small steps can lead to superficiality and the trivialization of real development. And generate an aversion to things that are difficult to measure by any yardstick.
Everyone lives in their own Matrix
Everyone lives in their matrix. Or at least that is how it is sold to us. This has already been mentioned by Ronald Purser in his McMindfulness, where he criticized the privatization of problems. Everything is dumped directly on the individual to work harder and to be a better cog in the machine. This does not solve the systemic exploitation in capitalism that Karl Marx wrote about in his Capital. The combination of Marx’s and Purser’s critiques gives us a fresh perspective on the now pathological system. With all sorts of mentors and motivational coaches, we don’t become authentically better at dealing with the pathologies of the system. We perpetuate the status quo, and we are masters and slaves to ourselves, or entrepreneurs of ourselves, which fits in with liberal management models.
Illusion of endless optimization
What if we leave everything for a while and let ourselves be, according to Fromm’s idea of being rather than having? Let’s give up control and endless optimization and let ourselves be. Let’s free ourselves from constant control over our time. Just like in the Taoist philosophy of Wu Wei, where you can just be. Act effortlessly and accept natural cycles. And most of all, emptiness. Emptiness is something that largely eludes Western philosophers, while Eastern philosophers are very familiar with it. Let’s not impose an unnatural rhythm of life on ourselves, but just relax and be in limbo for a while, where there is no real self to constantly improve. Existentialists such as Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre emphasized the absurdity of the meaninglessness of life, the limits of the human condition, but above all, responsibility. The constant pursuit of improvement can be a way to fill this absurdity or Taoist emptiness, where, like Sisyphus, we roll that boulder every day, only to do the same thing the next day.%Existentialists such as Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre emphasized the absurdity of the meaninglessness of life, the limits of the human condition, but above all responsibility. The constant pursuit of improvement can be the fulfillment of this absurdity or Taoist emptiness, where, like Sisyphus, we roll that boulder every day, only to do the same thing the next day.
Summary
Let’s allow ourselves a rest, a break. Let’s not try to measure this break in any way, but simply spend this time as we like. Without self-reproach, that, that after all, something could have been done. No, that wasn’t what was needed. One could (or even should) have rested.%Let’s simply allow ourselves a rest, a break. Let’s not try to measure this break in any way, but simply spend this time as we like. Without reproach, it is clear that, after all, something could have been done. No, you couldn’t. One could (or even should) have rested.
Bibliography
These particular books affected the overall shape of the article
- Erich Fromm - To Have or to Be?
This book is the philosophical heart of the essay’s critique. Fromm argues that modern society is trapped in a “having” mode-obsessed with possessing things, status, and skills which the “1% better” mantra perfectly embodies. He offers the alternative of a “being” mode, focused on authentic experience and connection, which aligns with the essay’s call for rest and freedom. - Byung-Chul Han - The Burnout Society
Han provides the definitive diagnosis for the modern condition described in the essay. He explains how the pressure to perform turns us into self-exploiting “achievement-subjects”, where the line between work and life dissolves. This book is essential for understanding why the “1% better” philosophy isn’t a solution, but a symptom of a pathological system. - Albert Camus - The Myth of Sisyphus
The essay uses Sisyphus as a metaphor for the endless grind of self-improvement. Camus’s work is crucial because he finds freedom not in escaping the absurd task, but in consciously rebelling against its meaninglessness. It provides a powerful philosophical framework for rejecting the need for external validation and finding meaning in the struggle itself, rather than in the numbers.