110% is Bullshit
200% is bullshit. Hell, giving every ounce of your being is bullshit. I know, “every ounce of your being” is just a figure of speech - it’s just a way to express your complete commitment to whatever seems vitally important at a particular time. However, we have all sadly bought into this trap and felt the burn of failure at some point in each of our lives.
Why do I have problem with this? It’s very similar to the all too familiar New Year’s eve goals with big grand promises to ourselves that we year-after-year fail to achieve leaving you feeling defeated and thinking: “Well that didn’t work. I’m not going to waste my time on that again. God I suck. Resolutions are bullshit!”
Yeah, for me, often these lofty goals didn’t work. It’s not your fault, sorta kinda...
We have been programmed for these grand gestures that have magical happy endings. We all want the Hollywood ending whether it’s losing the flab, making more money or maybe a complete life reset.
I’m a coach and have seen so many fall into this trap. But here is a not-so-secret-secret, I’ve fallen for the “big wish” as well.
Here is where I can help and shed some light on the situation…A goal without a system to get to the desired end is just a dream. Sure, you might get lucky, but the odds are against you. I know you are thinking that the universe will conspire to help you manifest your dreams…Or some horseshit like that!
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of manifesting the things that I desire in my life, but let’s be clear, achieving your goal is not like rubbing a magic lamp and bam you're hooked up.
You also may have included meditating, praying or vision boards which is great, but that’s just a way to start getting some clarity. If gluing macaroni on a vision board does the trick, have at it! I’m not poo-pooing the value of them. I did a vision board 20-years ago and pulled off several of the things that I had clipped and glued on it. I think these types of approaches can be pretty useful to keep your headspace focused on the finish line but it is not everything you need to do to achieve your goals. There is a wide gulf between desiring something and actually pulling it off. The system of steps to get you there and the ability to stick to it are the keys.
So what is the ancient well-guarded secret that is scrolled on the walls of our forbidden temples that will tell us how we can be successful? Oh wait, that’s bullshit too! The real secret sauce is not super exciting but it works and that can be pretty exciting. It is the time honored skill of consistency. Consistent movement with many little course corrections along the way is the surefire, but not so sexy method, to get you where you want to be.
Here is where going big or going home sends so many home. That Herculean effort can work for a few but I like what works for the rest of us newbie heroes - which is a 1% improvement each and every day. That’s right, just a 1% improvement a day makes a world of difference. If you keep that effort up for a year you will be 37 times better at whatever you are working on. Small, bite sized daily actions. That’s the ticket to success!
Think about the day after each New Year - the gym is packed with people “110% committed” to fitness. Two weeks later the majority of them have vanished. They went big and then went home. The big depressing fissile of hitting it to hard and then quickly burning out.
What if they instead had made a plan to start going to the gym 2 times a week with a twenty minutes minimum exercise regime. Couple this with someone they are accountable to (like me) to check-in with. Maybe that is too much. Maybe it’s starting with 5 push-ups 3 times a week then upping it to 7 the next week is more realistic. It really isn’t a one size fits all except for the consistency part. 1% improvement is something you can apply to many aspects of your life to get real results for almost any goal.
And that’s no bullshit.
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