The One Degree Rule

I’ve been in the sky since before kindergarten... I love flying. Growing up, my grandfather frequently traveled on the company jet, and I was invited to tag along if it didn’t interfere with school. I have a lot of great memories of being in that plane, the best of which is flying copilot on several of those trips.

One of the things that I learned from Dennis, the pilot, was the One Degree Rule. The One Degree Rule states that for each degree a plane veers off course, it will miss its destination by one mile for every 60 miles it flies. That means if you’re flying from San Diego, California to Hawaii, you would miss the island by 42 miles due to being off course just one degree. One degree can make a big difference.

When I began helping humans learn how to run their own minds and make significant changes in their lives, the One Degree Rule was (and is) always at the top of my mind.

In other words, I help humans discover the smallest change they can make that will have the greatest impact on their lives.

The quickest example of the One Degree Rule that I can give is when a client hired me early in my career to help him quit smoking. I spent about 30 minutes listening to him explain all the ways that he attempted to stop smoking over the last decade. When he was done, I looked at him and asked, “Have you ever thought about not putting a cigarette in your mouth ever again?”

I asked him this question and then waited on his answer. We sat staring at each other for approximately four minutes. He then said, “Sounds good!”

He left my office as a non-smoker. I follow up with my private clients once a year so I can track when I’m doing something that works and when it doesn’t. At year 8, he had never touched another cigarette. We lost touch after that year.

About 9 years ago, a recently-divorced woman hired me to help her feel confident so she could meet and hold conversations with men. Not more confident... She was lacking even a one percent level of confidence in this area.

During our first session, it became apparent that when she made a promise, she had a belief that she could never break it unless there was dire need to do so.

As the session came to an end, we set our next appointment, and I asked, “Do you promise you will be here next week. She answered, “Yes.”

I then asked her if she could make one more promise. She said, “Of course!”

I said, “Promise me that you will say ‘Hi!’ to one guy before you come back next week.“

She hesitated for a few seconds and said, “Yes, I promise.”

The following week, she reported that she did say “Hi!” to a guy at her gym.

Each week, I made her promise a bit more; and within two months, she developed the confidence to walk up to any guy, start a conversation, and keep the interaction going.

Use the One Degree Rule. You’ll discover how easy it is to make a small change that has a significant impact on your life.

One degree is all it takes. When you uncover your one degree, you can change your life.