One Percent Better

By Elder Michael A. Dunn

Of the Seventy

“The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1 percent, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together.”...

Instead of trying to perfect everything, what if we tackled just one thing?...

Could aggregating small but steady marginal gains in our lives finally be the way to victory over even the most pesky of our personal shortcomings?..

“habits are the ‘compound interest of self-improvement.’ If you can get just one percent better at something each day, by the end of a year … you will be 37 times better.”...

Will little adjustments work that “mighty change”⁵ that you desire? Properly implemented, I’m 99 percent certain they will! But the one caveat with this approach is that for small gains to aggregate, there must be a consistent, day-in and day-out effort. And although we won’t likely be perfect, we must be determined to mirror our persistence with patience. Do that, and the sweet rewards of increased righteousness will bring you the joy and peace you seek. As President Russell M. Nelson has taught: “Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”...

as Elder David A. Bednar enjoined: “Small, steady, incremental spiritual improvements are the steps the Lord would have us take. Preparing to walk guiltless before God is one of the primary purposes of mortality and the pursuit of a lifetime; it does not result from sporadic spurts of intense spiritual activity.”...

With basking in that undimmable luster beckoning, I invite you to examine your life and see what’s stagnated or slowed you on the covenant pathway. Then look broader. Seek modest but makeable fixes in your life that might result in the sweet joy of being just a little better....

It is He who knows when a sparrow falls that is likewise focused on the minute as well as the momentous moments in our lives and who is ready right now to assist you in whatever your 1 percent quest is coming out of this conference. Because every effort to change we make—no matter how tiny it seems to us—just might make the biggest difference in our lives.

Connect with Self

Cultivating Meaningful Connections

By Faith Sutherlin Blackhurst

The author lives in Utah, USA.

April 2018 Ensign

Find out what it is that helps you feel most like yourself, and it will become easier to find happiness.

We become happier as we experience belonging, acceptance, and love with our families, friends, and neighbors and as we give them the same in return.

Connect with Self

• Get adequate sleep.
• Eat healthy foods.
• Exercise.
• Write in your journal.
• Try a new hobby.
• Meditate and be still.
• Disconnect from social media.
• Read a book.
• Spend time in nature.
• Make a list of your strengths.

Show the Spirit of Christmas

This Christmas, as the spirit of the season permeates our hearts, let us do something that expresses our feelings in an outward way, showing that we understand that the babe born in Bethlehem is the real Redeemer. President Howard W. Hunter (1907–95) gave some practical advice that helps us do that:

“This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express yourgratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again.”

Gary E. Stevenson, "The Reality of Christmas," Ensign, Dec 2014, 25.

Heart = Inner Feelings

The word heart is used over 1,000 times in the standard works and symbolizes the inner feelings of an individual. Thus, our hearts—the sum total of our desires, affections, intentions, motives, and attitudes—define who we are and determine what we will become.

David A. Bednar, "Missionary, Family History, and Temple Work," Ensign, Oct 2014, 31.

Duty

"Most of us don't mind doing what we ought to do when it doesn't interfere with what we want to do, but it takes discipline and maturity to do what we ought to do whether we want to or not. Duty is too often what one expects from others and not what one does. What people think and believe and plan are all very important, but what they do is the thing that counts most. It is a call to throw out selfishness and to think of the common good of all."

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Learn Your Duty," Ensign, Aug 2012, 16.

Examine Yourselves Today

“In the midst of the unsettled condition, the uncertainty that is in the world, if there ever was a time when we should examine ourselves, to find out if we are doing what the Lord would have us do, it is today; if there ever was a time when we should be sure that we are in the pathway of eternal life, it is now….Now let us examine ourselves. Are we doing as much as we should? And if we are not, let us turn around and do better.”

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: George Albert Smith, pg 6-7, 9.