SHOW NOTES:
On this show….we are giving it all, 100%, our best, every time, always! Sounds ambitious huh - but I’m going to let you in a little secret early on to set the tone for the show. All you can give is what you have and nothing more. Now if you let that sink in a while….or let’s say over the course of this show, you will see that is enough, and the knowledge of this fact is the ultimate freedom. Now I know some of you overachievers out there are thinking what happened to the 10%, you know the 10% mor...
SHOW NOTES:
On this show….we are giving it all, 100%, our best, every time, always! Sounds ambitious huh - but I’m going to let you in a little secret early on to set the tone for the show. All you can give is what you have and nothing more. Now if you let that sink in a while….or let’s say over the course of this show, you will see that is enough, and the knowledge of this fact is the ultimate freedom. Now I know some of you overachievers out there are thinking what happened to the 10%, you know the 10% more - giving 110%. Well, let me clear that up for you. There is no 10%. ALL of it is exactly that, ALL - everything, and nothing more. I appreciate your tenacity and never want you to lose the drive but let’s just concentrate on the totality of this concept.
I really don’t mean to make light of the fact that giving 100% every time to everything you do seems exhausting and actually unrealistic. Even someone as motivated and enthusiastic as I am can see that seems far-fetched. If you are thinking the same thing then you have a couple of choices. Some of us see things through and all or nothing lens. Hot or cold, on or off, black or white. With this kind of approach, it’s easy to think of this concept and immediately be ready to through in the towel the minute something happens. “Welp I blew it today so nevermind, I’ll try again tomorrow - I give up”. If this sounds like you then you can see where getting to the point of 100% consistency in your efforts, may seem like a mirage.
Before you hit that point, let me let you off the hook and share a revelation I found through a book by Don Miguel Ruiz - you might have heard me mention him a time or two. He wrote a book called The Four Agreements which has really shaped some new thinking for me.
The Four Agreements are:
Be Impeccable With Your Word.
Don't Take Anything Personally.
Don't Make Assumptions.
Always Do Your Best.
One of the agreements is: Always Do Your Best. I want to share this new perception with you and then we will dig into some of the details on this concept.
Under any circumstance, always do your best, no more and no less. But keep in mind that your best is never going to be the same from one moment to the next. Everything is alive and changing all the time, so your best will sometimes be high quality, and other times it will not be as good. When you wake up refreshed and energized in the morning, your best will be better than when you are tired at night. Your best will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick; it will depend on whether you are feeling wonderful and happy, or angry and upset.
BAM! There you go - all you are responsible for is your best. Nothing more. On the days you are struggling and only have 20% in the tank, give it all because 100% of 20% is - you got it, 20%.
No longer do you have to throw in the towel on your less-than-stellar days. You still have an opportunity to give 100% and feel the satisfaction of doing your best.
For so long we’ve been focused on the glass have empty or half full. How do you see it are you an optimist or a pessimist. At this point, you’re almost afraid to answer. But no matter how much is in the glass all you have to do is pour it out. ALL of it, give it all because that’s what you have to give today and that’s enough.
You might wrestle with this newfound enlightenment, maybe even push back thinking how I can do my best when I can’t be the best. Maybe 100% of the 20 you have to give is not enough. You need to be perfect, all or nothing.
Dr. Ilene Strauss Cohen helps us understand this challenge in an article she wrote for psycologytoday.com: How to Let Go of the Need to Be Perfect
Change your mindset.
Build self-reliance.
Learn to let go.
Make your own decisions.
Remember, you can’t hate your way into accepting yourself.
Make peace with the “now” before you feel satisfied with the “later.”
….oh if it were just that easy but listen to the show, we go into a lot of detail!
That’s just it, being committed to doing your best is no guarantee you’ll win or come out on top every time. Everyone wants to win and succeed but that’s not the point here. The point is you have the freedom to give what you have to give and the opportunity to commit to yourself to do it every time in every situation.
Remy Blumenfeld shares his ideas on Why "Doing Your Best" Is A Better Bet than "Being The Best" in an article he wrote for forbes.com
Do you Accept Your Own Ambition?
Are you choosing what you want to be driven towards?
Do you compete with others all the time or only when it serves you?
Have you got enough ambitious people around you?
Are you willing to take risks?
With this idea safely in our tool belt let’s explore another eye-opener that might help you effectively use the 20% or 80% you do have to give and that’s the 80/20 rule.
Thaisa Fernandes shows us How You Can Apply the 80/20 Rule in Your Life and Work in an article she wrote for medium.com
The Pareto principle or 80/20 rule is the universal truth about the imbalance of inputs and outputs. The main point is to find the small things that give you the biggest results.
Here are some 80/20 Rule Examples:
80% of problems originate from 20% of projects.
60% of your distractions come from 40% of sources.
70% of customers only use 30% of software features.
90% of complaints are made by 10% of users.
80% of value is achieved with the first 20% of effort.
85% of the important conversations are from 15% of the emails.
- Identify your key tasks based on your goals.
- Clarify and unblock.
- Use the 80/20 framework.
- Work smarter.
With these ideas and your newfound freedom, how could you ever settle for less? Settling means accepting and accepting means giving up. I don’t know about you but that’s not in my vocabulary. I understand that I am always learning and growing and to give up on where I am right at this moment is to not have hope for the future. Hope is not a wish for better days ahead it’s a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.
CHALLENGE: today, no matter what you have available, give it all. Doing your best meets you where you are and asks for only what you have to give. Evaluate where you’re depleted and leverage what offers you the best returns.
I Know YOU Can Do It!
