Atomic Habits · James Clear

One percent compounds examples

Curated by · reviewed 2026-05-30

One percent compounds: get 1% better every day and a year later you're about 37 times better — tiny gains stack. Examples:

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5 examples of one percent compounds

  1. The 37x math

    1.01 to the power of 365 is about 37.8 — small daily improvement compounds astonishingly.

  2. Saving small and often

    A little invested regularly grows far beyond the sum of the deposits, thanks to compounding.

  3. Ten pages a day

    About 3,650 pages a year — a dozen-plus books from a habit that feels like nothing.

  4. Marginal gains

    The British cycling team chased tiny 1% improvements across everything — and they added up to dominance.

  5. 1% worse too

    Compounding runs both ways: small daily declines stack into a big fall just as quietly.

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