The Daffodil Principle: What Happens When You Take Action Every Day

In Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul, Jaroldeen Edwards recounts the day her daughter, Carolyn, drove her to Lake Arrowhead to visit a daffodil garden.

“Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, ‘Mother, you must come see the daffodils before they are over.’ I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead”.

Despite her reluctance, Jaroldeen agreed and made the two-hour drive in the rain and fog with Carolyn. When they arrived at the daffodil garden, Jaroldeen couldn’t believe her eyes:

“We turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight. It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes . . . There were five acres of flowers”.

There were daffodils are far as the eye could see.

On the land, was a house with a poster that read: “Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking”. The first answer was: “50,000 bulbs”. The second answer was: “One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and [a] very little brain”. The third answer was: “Began in 1958”.

This woman had adopted what Jaroldeen would call “The Daffodil Principle”: a lifelong commitment to a goal by taking one action every day.

The Daffodil Principle

Whenever you hear about someone who’s achieved an extraordinary goal, rarely, if ever, do you hear about the process. You don’t hear about the ordinary actions they did consistently that helped them. You only hear about the outcome.

You hear about the entrepreneur who took his business public but not how many “no’s” he heard when he was building his business. You read about the dieter who lost 28 pounds in 30 days but not how close they were to relapsing.

We’re lead to believe that extraordinary successes are a result of one-off extraordinary actions, but they’re not—they’re a result of (1) ordinary actions done consistently (such as planting daffodil bulbs one bulb at a time) and (2) regular feedback (noticing what’s working, what isn’t and improving the former to maximise your results).

The woman who planted 50,000 bulbs not only had to plant them; she had to learn how to plant them in a way that constantly moved her towards her outcome.

Action Needs Continuous Improvement

If you want to achieve a goal, it’s not always enough to just take action (how do you know it’s the right action?); you have to constantly improve the process you’re using as well (this helps you ascertain whether it’s the right action or not).

To quote Dr. Marshall Goldsmith: “What got you here what get you there”.

If you’re unemployed and you goal is to find a job, emailing five random companies every day may feel like progress (and to an extent, it is; action is better than inaction), but if you’re not refining your resume, tweaking your cover letter and researching companies you and your skill set are best suited for – in other words, improving your process—you’re unlikely to meet your outcome.

With that in mind, you may want to consider improving your process by 1 percent every day.

A 1 percent improvement may feel insignificant (and, on its own, that may be true) but when you improve by 1 percent—in the long-term—that 1 percent compounds on itself and produces results you never could’ve imagined.

The Difference 1 Percent Makes

Figure 1 explains the difference between improving and regressing by 1 percent every day for 1 year.

As you can see, a 1 percent improvement every day for one year equals 37.8. In other words, that’s a 37.8 percent improvement! On the other hand, a 1 percent regression equals 00.3—a 97 percent regression.

Maybe time doesn’t allow you to improve by 1 percent every day, but what about if you improved by 1 percent every week?

As you can see from Figure 2, even a 1 percent improvement every week for 1 year is still a 67 percent improvement.

The complicated math aside, let’s discuss how you can apply this.

The Daffodil Principle in Practice

The Daffodil Principle isn’t applicable to all processes on a daily basis (you don’t want to over-train with exercise for example) but it certainly is on a weekly basis.

Your 1 percent improvement can also be measured in one of two ways: (1) qualitative improvement or (2) quantitative improvement.

Let’s look at a few examples of applying The Daffodil Principle on a weekly basis with both qualitative and quantitative improvements:

If your goal is to write a book, a qualitative improvement to your process could be improving your knowledge of writing, grammar, and syntax by practicing and judging what feels right to you. A quantitative improvement could be writing 1000 words a week (200 words every weekday) and writing 1 percent more every week.

If your goal is to run a marathon, a qualitative improvement to your process could be improving your diet, observing how you feel (both before and after) and replacing any negative habits you have (like smoking). A quantitative improvement could be improving your personal best by 1 percent every week.

If your goal is to find a romantic partner, a qualitative improvement to your process could be improving how your feel about yourself using affirmations, practicing gratitude and dressing better. A quantitative improvement could be talking to 10 new people every week and improving your conversation skills by 1 percent every week.

Maybe practicing The Rule of Five can account for your 1 percent improvement every day or week. Tracking this on Excel will help motivate you when you feel challenged.

A Final Word

Granted, determining what a 1 percent improvement is for you may be difficult to track if it’s qualitative, but it’s usually up to your own assessment.

I prefer a qualitative improvement in my processes and my rule of thumb is to ask myself: “Do I feel like I’ve improved in (process) today?” For example, if I’m focusing on improving my writing, that can be proofreading my work more thoroughly, using a new word I’ve learned or double checking a grammatical rule. In other words: “Did I take an action I wouldn’t have usually taken?” If I feel like an article I’ve written is better than the one that preceded it, I feel like I’m improving.

Improving by 1 percent every day or week is achievable – regardless of your circumstances. If you’re currently encountering resistance with your goals, remember the words of Karen Lamb: “A year from now, you will have wished you’d started today”.

What can you start now?