I could barely string together an English sentence but today I speak to you with such fluency. Well, that’s my story, and it started from a boys school in Tamil Nadu, India.

We spoke more vernacular than English, the only time we used English was during exams. When I went to college, it became a real struggle and I vividly remember this experience.

In my third year, a girl walked up to me and started speaking in English. There I was, all six and a half feet of me, looking down at this girl, completely tongue-tied. I was frantically trying to translate what she was saying in my head, then translate my response back to English, all while attempting to correct my grammar.

By the time I figured out what to say, she was long gone.

That’s when it hit me – if I ever wanted to get married, I’d better learn English!

So began my journey of self-improvement. I picked up a book called “Word Power Made Easy” to get started. Before I knew it, my vocabulary had grown by 3000 words. Then came the book “An Adult approach to vocabulary building” and so on.

I was so excited about my new language skills and would casually ask people,  “How do you operate with such perspicuity and perspicacity?”

They would stare back at me with a blank expression 🙂

But here’s the thing – I soon realized that impressive vocabulary isn’t the key to good communication. It’s about simplicity and brevity.

Life has a funny way of throwing these situations at us, challenging us to grow. The secret is to recognize these moments and take action. If that girl hadn’t walked away from me, who knows if I’d have ever improved my English?

So, I started asking myself:

• How can I become better every day?
• What new things can I learn?
• How can I build a better version of myself?

There’s this wonderful equation from the book “Atomic Habits” that really stuck with me: 1 to the power of 365 is 1, but 1.01 to the power of 365 is 37.8. It’s mind-blowing, isn’t it?

Just a 1% improvement each day can lead to massive growth over a year.

That’s the power of investing in yourself daily. It’s not about making drastic changes overnight. It’s about those small, consistent steps that compound over time.

So, here’s my question for you: What’s your 1% improvement going to be today?

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