I continually hear people talk about the importance of giving 110%, or raving about an athlete who always gives 110% and I am getting really tired of it. 

You cannot give 110%. 100% is maximum effort. If it looks like you are giving 110% then you were not giving 100% to begin with. In fact, I doubt any of us have ever been close to giving 100% effort. 

The more I read and the more listen to people tell amazing stories of their accomplishments I am convinced that none of us actually know what 100% effort is because we do not know what we or any other human is truly capable of.  New world records are set every year. Feats deemed “impossible” are accomplished and proven to be possible. 

I am a big believer in showing up and doing the work. I believe that people who have accomplished lasting success and significance in their lives have done so through a commitment to effort and process over the long haul. We need to show up every day and do the best we can with the tools and skills we have. We need to continue to challenge ourselves to learn and grow. We need to get back up when we fall or fail, assess what we learned and continue moving forward. 

We also need to accept that we are human. As humans we have good days and bad days. We have high energy days and low energy days. We have days when we are well rested and days when we are sleep deprived and exhausted. We have days when everything seems to be going just as we planned and other days where nothing goes as planned. We will have days when we are highly productive and days when we are not as productive. 

The key is to show up every day, strive to be better than the day before and stop trying to put a percentage rating on it. 

And please, let’s stop with the 110% percent crap. 

What’s Important Now? Show up. Do the work. Have self compassion. Learn from failure. Continually strive to improve. Keep repeating. 

Take care.

Brian Willis

www.lifesmostpowerfulquestion.com

www.winningmindtraining.com

Maximizing human potential through Life's Most Powerful Question - What's Important Now?

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