Changing Our Lives: One Percent Better–Hmm…

by grego (c) 2023

I enjoyed the talk One Percent Better by Elder Michael A. Dunn, of the Seventy, in the October 2021 General Conference. After a little while, I have some additional thoughts.

Our natural tendency is to try, all at once, to change a gazillion things for the best. Sometimes we feel incredibly powerful and high, and we know we can use our will power to make great changes and we know we will feel so much better, rah! However, it is impossible for a human to make huge changes all at once without going through incredible healing; and, even then, it succeeds (to whatever degree it does) not because we are changing, but because we have already been changed and no longer need will power to continue–such as the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. And that’s why it’s important to remember that changes for the better have a much better chance of becoming permanent, truly a part of us, when they are much smaller.

Still, we don’t have to start small. One percent (1%) improvement seems like that’s for those who have already made great changes for the better, are already quite spiritual, and have little further progress to make! For most of us, though… We’re not looking at that. So here are some thoughts.

Some actions can bring much, much more than 1%, and we should take them immediately. Start with the low hanging fruit, or start with the biggest gains. For example, how much would life improve if we were to gain a firm testimony that Jesus Christ is our Savior? What if we repented of an addiction? What about if we talked to the bishop about our big sin we need help with? These could mean massive increases in improvement!

It’s hard to “go so sloooow”, and we bite at the bit. We must have great patience and dedication to the outcome years from now, not just tomorrow.

As we work along, we’ll find that it’s harder to get big gains like before, but things can always still get better. Especially as we pass through our middle years and head towards the last 1/3 of our expected life average, we might have increased in wisdom, but we might also be decreasing in health and strength, or perhaps in some abilities. This also occurs with some people whose chronic illnesses become more and more serious and difficult to live with, or even just with people who have been driven to fatigue. In many ways, we can’t do as much or as well as we used to. This is natural and part of life. Prophets and apostles have spoken about this, and we’ve seen it in their lives. We do the best with being spiritual; we adjust our lives and lifestyles; we might have to cut some things, and add others; or, we might just have to cut some things. We can even expect taking a few steps backward. We are not doing worse! We are not failing! God does not love us less. He loves us for having been faithful and done so much good already. Even King Benjamin had so slow down a lot, stepping down three years before his death. We are human, and God understands. We do what we can, without overtaxing ourselves.

After hearing for maybe the fourth time about how listening to a General Conference talk every morning can be helpful, I figured we could start that (even though I had rolled my eyes at that suggestion every time in the past). Our lives are for the better.

One brother told me that he prayed for the missionaries every day, by name; the thought came to me, “Huh. I can do that.” and so for about a year and a half, almost every day, twice a day, I pray for the missionaries in our ward, by name, and often their families. My life is for the better; I hope theirs are, too.

Just think–if we were to change just ONE thing A YEAR for the better–something simple and doable, like those two things above–and continue to do them; and, then add one more thing for the better, every year after (yes, just one change a year!!), from 21 to 65 we would have 44 new spiritual habits! How much would that improve us?

So, stay with it, stay at it!