The 1% Solution

Publisher's Summary. Did you know that the difference between the top Olympic medal winning athletes and those not receiving a medal averages just 1%? Chances are you and I won’t be competing in the Olympics, but we can learn from this fact. In The 1% Solution for Work and Life author Tom Connellan maps out the way. He has discovered three things that are the foundation behind that 1% difference and in The 1% Solution he provides actionable ideas to help readers achieve comparable performance results.

Review. Twelve minutes is what it takes for me to arrive at the parking lot to catch my commuter bus. Twelve minutes that is if there is no traffic, red lights, roadwork, or icy roads. Unfortunately, impediments to my timely arrival occur with alarming regularity. Many times I arrive just in time to witness my bus’s departure. When this happens I’ve often mused if only I had just left the house just a minute earlier. In other words, if I had been one percent more efficient with my morning routine I would have been luxuriating in a toasty, warm, bus rather than stomping my feet in the predawn freeze trying to avert frostbitten toes while awaiting the next bus.

In the 1% Solution, author Tom Connellan reports that being one percent better is often the difference between being average and exceptional. For instance, in the Olympics the difference between winning the gold medal and no medal (fourth place) generally breaks down to being just one percent faster. Granted Olympic athletes are a superior lot compared to the overall population, but within this elite group one percent is all that separates the very good from the great!

After revealing the one percent difference, the book details a blue print of how to be one percent better in virtually any area in life – professionally and personally. The 1% Solution is written in a story-like format following the fictional character Ken’s transformation into being one percent better. In each chapter Ken learns an important lesson, such as, action leads to motivation (think of the Nike commercial “just do it”). By the end of the book, both Ken and the reader have discovered the tools to performing just a little better.

The 1% Solution is a concise, informative, and readable self-help book. And as for me, after following a few of Connellan’s suggestions, these days I am riding the bus instead of watching it. Thanks Tom!



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Publisher: Peak Performance Press (December 16, 2010), 138 pages.
Review copy provided courtesy of the publisher.