“If you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one year, you’ll decline nearly down to zero. What starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates into something much more.”

James Clear, Atomic Habits

While reviewing some notes from Atomic Habits, I came across that quote, and it gave me pause.

I love notable progress. I love checking things off my list. I love seeing hard work pay off. But if you’re literal about that 1 percent thing, you’re not going to feel that change right away, and that’s what makes this concept both extremely doable and easy to overlook.

Say you want to be writing more because you know that we get better at writing by actually writing. Say you already write 100 words a day, and you want to apply this 1 percent concept. When you write 101 words tomorrow, it’s not gonna feel like a victory. It’s gonna feel like nothing changed. That’s why it was so doable because you barely changed what you’re doing. And that’s why it’s easy to blow off continuing to do it, because it feels like nothing changed.

I really love how James Clear drives this idea home a few paragraphs later:

“It doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory that your current results.”

Easier said than done, right? I don’t even want to admit to all the time I’ve wasted obsessing over what I haven’t yet achieved instead of investing my energy in the 1 percent.

What does the 1 percent mentality, the “small wins” mindset look like if you’re trying to finish a novel? Finishing a novel is a HUGE hurdle for many new writers. That’s why Jill, Shannon, and I invested time in writing Go Teen Writers: Write Your Novel.

Step 1: Evaluate what you need to accomplish your long term goal.

What needs to happen to finish a novel? You need a few things. You need words on a page. You need time to put those words on a page. And you need to somehow string together story, character, setting, and theme to make it to the end. Even an incoherent end. (We’re talking about a first draft here, so a little incoherence is expected!)

Step 2: Evaluate where you are.

You can’t put together a system to grow 1 percent if you don’t know where you are!

What do you have so far as far as the story goes? What’s your time like? How frequently are you writing? For how long? How many words do you tend to write in a writing session? (If you don’t know, figuring out is going to be one of your small wins!)

Step 3: Brainstorm your small wins

What are some small wins, some 1 percent ways, that you can work toward this goal of finishing your novel? Make a big list, not worrying about if you’ll actually do it. Just make sure they are small things, not stuff like, “Write 10k a day!” Here are some ideas:

Time: If you’re not writing consistently yet, maybe you start there. Maybe you find 10 minutes a day to write. You set a timer and go. Maybe after a week, you add a minute. Now you’re doing 11 minutes a day. A week later, you bump it up to 12. These aren’t literal 1 percent additions, but we’re going for the essence of the 1 percent concept, not a literal 1 percent.

Or maybe your small win comes in a different form. Maybe you say no to watching a TV show you only kinda like and invest the time in writing instead. Maybe one morning a week, you set your alarm for 30 minutes earlier and write. There are lots of ways to gain small victories with time.

Words: Maybe time isn’t your big problem, but getting words on the page is. You could set a weekly or daily word goal. (I’m a big fan of weekly. Keeps my perfectionism in check.) Try to set your goal small and manageable if you’ve never had one before. Maybe this week, your goal is to write 500 words. Depending on how that feels, you could bump it up to 600 the next week. You’re striving for a balance of “achievable, but pushes me a little bit.”

All the other parts of writing a novel: How’s that for a category? Again, think small here.

Learning about writing a novel is helpful. You could read one article a day or listen to two podcasts a week. You could read a craft book for ten minutes each day. Maybe you really drill down on certain areas you want to learn more about. Character development or story middles. Wherever you sense growth is most needed.

What about staying motivated until the end? What are some small wins in that area? Maybe you could text your word count each day to a supportive friend. Or set up small celebrations for yourself. Like on days you hit your word count goal, you get to watch your favorite TV show.

If you start compiling all these small wins with each other, you can ease your way to somewhere great! Writing 500 words on the occasional Saturday won’t get your novel finished very quickly. But building on that 500-word Saturday with other small wins throughout the week definitely will.

What are your ideas for small wins you could add to your writing life?