What do you do when you don’t have 100% to give?
I recently shared my excitement over publishing my 75th article.
That excitement was met with… writer's block. I literally could muster no desire to put thumbs to the keyboard. I had no desire to do it, partially because I am a bit over-scheduled and partially because… no idea.
However, I am committed to writing and sharing the connections between my lived experiences and the content I consume.
This prompted me to recall advice my wife gave me years ago at a time I was battling a season of anxiety over maintaining a high work standard that was likely unhealthy, unreasonable, and unnecessary.
Her advice was always give 100% of what you got.
This is significantly different from the advice commonly shared about what successful people do, which is too always be giving 100%, maybe 110%. The lie is that successful people never have off days. They always find a way to give 100%, except on days they give 110%.
Why is always giving 100% (or 110%) a recipe for failure? Because it is impossible. It doesn’t account for the things that happen to all of us that are outside of our control and impact what effort or time we have to give. Things like
Illness or injury
Grief or periods of sadness
Distractions related to urgent things or other people’s priorities
Essential things that come up that you couldn’t have planned for (death of someone close to you or an opportunity to celebrate an unexpected accomplishment)
You can’t give 110% that isn’t a real thing
The 100% all-the-time perspective doesn’t account for the reality that most of life is outside your control.
But when you add the phrase “what you got” to the always give 100%, it makes the advice achievable, freeing, and helpful.
What does it mean to give 100% of what you got?
Interpret it like this. If you only have 70% to give to a particular area of life for a day or a season, be sure to give the full 70% to that area of life.
When you push forward with excellence, even when it’s with less than 100% of the full you, you will get further faster. And much further than if
You get stuck lamenting over the portion you don’t have
You wait until you have 100% to take action
You give less than the full portion of whatever you have to give.
Just keep moving forward with whatever you have to move forward with.
Conclusion
This article started with me saying what is the best knowledge I can share in under 2 hours, but giving full attention and focus during that time. You just finished reading what I came up with.
Taking the mindset of giving 100% of all you have, especially when it is less than 100% you have to give, helps avoid procrastination and creates forward movement. You will be surprised how good it feels to accomplish small things when you start from a place of believing you can’t accomplish anything.
Don’t forget to check out the Doing Life Together Podcast.
A multigenerational perspective on living your best life or helping others do the same. Available wherever you find podcasts or YouTube @archimpactsstudio or click here
