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Welcome back to the Launch Key 🚀

Whether its starting a business, losing weight or improving at your job, long term success hinges on small changes.

I’ve written about this before but its worth repeating - there is compounding power in tiny changes.

Let's get into it.

• Gmail users may wish to read online since some parts may be clipped.

• Comment below and let me know if we’re on the right track.

Table of Contents

• Pull to Eject

  • British Cycling

  • Yellowstone Wolves

  • Aggregation of Marginal Gains

• Modern Tools

• Old School Wisdom

• Recommendations

• Visual Crapshoot

Pull to Eject

Most of us want to change some part of our lives. It’s human nature.

The usual cast of characters for improvement include:

• Nutrition

• Relationships

• Weight

• Job Performance

• Sleep

• Fitness

• Fill in the blank

And if you’re like most of us, you try to do too much all at once. Like going to the gym in January. But if you’re also starting a new job, and moving into a new house, or a new relationship. Whatever – life gets in the way.

Start smaller and stack them.

You can’t run a marathon without first taking much smaller steps.

Many believe that a defining moment - the big bang theory of your career - is the thing that leads to huge success.

But it’s rarely a lucky break.

Compounding small work is the culprit that generates the most success.

Whether its writing a book, starting a consultancy, teaching a course or creating a digital product - your next chapter does not need to include some point-of-no-return chasm crossing.

In fact, 1% better every day can lead to 37 times improvement this year.

British Cycling

In 2002, when Sir Dave Brailsford became head of British Cycling, the team had zero Tour de France victories and 1 single Olympic gold medal since 1908.

A century of toiling mediocrity.

That quickly changed under Sir Dave’s leadership. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, his squad won seven out of 10 gold medals, and at the London Olympics four years later they set 9 Olympic records and 7 World Records.

And Brits have now won the Granddaddy Tour de France 6 times.

From 2007 to 2018, British cyclists won 178 world championships and 66 Olympic or Paralympic gold medals and captured 6 Tour de France victories in what is widely regarded as the most successful run in cycling history.

And it all started with small things the cyclists could monitor.

They redesigned the bike seats to make them more comfortable. They asked riders to wear electrically heated overshorts to maintain ideal muscle temperature.

The team tested various fabrics in a wind tunnel and had their outdoor riders switch to indoor racing suits, which proved to be lighter and more aerodynamic.

They tested different types of massage gels to see which led to the fastest muscle recovery. They determined the type of pillow and mattress that led to the best night’s sleep for each rider - and carried those to every hotel.

Nutrition, wattage, aerodynamics, bio feedback, sleep metrics, clothing material - hundreds of tiny improvements added up to sea change results in a few short years.

Yellowstone Wolves

Signed into law in 1872 by Ulysses S. Grant, Yellowstone was the first national park and became America’s largest and wildest tourist attraction.

But by 1926, humans had wiped out wolves in an attempt to civilize the park.

Yellowstone was still beautiful, but the whole ecosystem was weaker without the apex predators.

The 1995 reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone has had a multi-decade cascading affect that scientists did not envision.

The elk herds have become healthier by reverting to smaller groups moving throughout the park instead of eating all the foliage near streams.

As a result, wildflowers and willows have been restored. Which in turn changed stream banks, which grew new species including berries. Berries attracted more bears.

And the willows attracted beaver colonies who created new ponds which attracted additional species.

Birds of prey, bobcats, and mountain lions - all came back because the Wolves were managing the Elk herds better.

It didn’t happen overnight, but the Yellowstone Northern range is the wildest its been in over 100 years. Wolves transformed the Yellowstone ecosystem, saving it from imbalance and restoring its natural beauty.

Aggregation of Marginal Gains

The aggregation of marginal gains is the process of making small, incremental improvements in various areas, which, when combined, lead to a substantial overall improvement.

• Scientists didn’t expect wolves to improve the growth of wildflowers.

• Brialsford couldn’t predict Tour de France podiums.

The marginal gains approach applies to any walk of life and works for any skill, knowledge, attitude, experience or relationship.

Every positive action that you take or negative action you avoid is like earning compounding interest towards your future self.

As time goes on, these small improvements or declines compound and you suddenly find a very big gap between people who make slightly better decisions on a daily basis and those who don’t.

Focus on the little things that matter.

You don’t need to reintroduce wolves to your neighborhood.

I started a daily writing habit 2 years ago and it has turned into this newsletter.

How will you turn your experience into something new?

It only takes a 1% shift today.

Now go launch something 🚀 

Modern Tools

One of the biggest sticking points for would-be entrepreneurs is health care. Small businesses have traditionally not had great benefits.

Enter CrowdHealth. Only pay for the health care you need.

After years of paying premiums for health care that I never used - plus a very high deductible - I left for CrowdHealth. Your mileage may vary, but it’s worth your research.

Old School Wisdom

Currently the #1 selling book on Amazon across all categories, Atomic Habits has helped more than 15 million people improve their lives. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.

No matter your goals, James Clear’s Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving – every day.

You’re doing breakfast wrong

Let’s face it—most breakfast options just don’t cut it.

Toast? Too light. Cereal? Mostly sugar. Skipping it altogether? Not ideal.

If you want real fuel to power your day, it’s time to upgrade to Huel Black Edition. This ready-in-seconds shake is packed with 40g of plant-based protein, 27 essential vitamins & minerals, and 0 artificial sweeteners—just science-backed nutrition to support your muscles, digestion, and more.

Oh, and did we mention? It’s delicious.

Right now, first-time customers get 15% off, plus a free t-shirt and shaker with code HUELSPRING, for orders over $75.

Find your fuel

Recommendations

💼 Thriving Freelance - Gigs and Growth : Hundreds of job opportunities sent directly to your inbox each week, plus timely resources to support you as you grow and evolve.

👋 Huntrs : Join Hanna Larrson and learn how to build your personal brand and audience, monetize your knowledge, build multiple income streams and a lean, profitable online business.

📕 MGMT Playbook : Practical management insights straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

🗃️ Dealroom Business Success Uncovered : Learn directly from billionaire entrepreneurs on how to grow a business. Join a community of 2,000+ innovators.

📰 Newsletter Operator : Learn how to grow and monetize your newsletter. Trusted by 30,000+ media founders, CEOs, creators.

🟢 Scalable : Helping early-stage founders launch products and grow startups, fast.

Visual Crapshoot