“Excellence happens when you try each day to both do and be, a little better than you were yesterday!”

Pat Riley, basketball coach

Maybe you have decided to try to achieve “marginal gains” in your life and work. Back when he coached the Los Angeles Lakers to three straight championships, he was the pioneer of challenging players to give just a bit more effort.

He would have his video guy record every single game played in the NBA every night. He would then have someone chart statistics on every player who played. He would then give each of his players the result of his study.

He charted things that had not been charted before. For instance, he looked at every player, measured each time a shot was made and determined whether the player tried to get a rebound.

He didn’t measure rebounds. He measured trying.

As you might expect, the great re-bounders in the league tried more often than those who didn’t try as often.

You can imagine his results. When he could present a player proof that others tried harder than he was trying, it caught his attention.

Trying went up. Success went up. Championships occurred.

The first step toward achieving marginal gains is trying to achieve them. Go for it.