Who does not want to be proud of what they do?
Everyone wants to. Still, we are not always proud of what we do. Why?
The reason is simple – we don’t always give our 100 percent all the time.
Don’t you feel sometimes that you should be doing the exercise but you are watching a TV show instead?
Do you feel sometimes that you want to get rid of your smoking habit but you are buying more cigarettes?
In your heart, you know that you should be doing X but instead, you are doing Y.
We all do that. We don’t give our 100% all the time to the right thing our heart knows.
Often, we do not get the importance of giving our 100% – let us get some clarity on that.
Why Giving Your 100 Percent is Important?
It is important because when you give your 100 percent, you increase the chances of being successful in what you do. Also, you won’t have any regrets even if you fail.
Failing or succeeding is not in anyone’s hands but giving 100 percent is.
The problem with not giving your 100 percent is that you curse yourself for not accomplishing the things although you feel you could.
When you curse yourself, you don’t feel happy, do you?
And, the first duty every human being has is to ensure that his or her soul is happy. Happy souls make the world a happier place.
Giving your 100 percent is important so that the world becomes (or stays) happy.
What is Preventing You From Giving Your 100 Percent?
When we were born, we inherently knew how to give our 100 percent. If we needed something, we just asked. For example, when we needed a toy we liked, we used to do everything and anything possible to get the attention of our parents and get what we wanted.
Our prime task was to obtain the toy and nothing else. We were giving our 100 percent to accomplish the highest priority task, which we had on our hand.
Then we were taught to be reasonable human beings who understand and practice rules of the society such that the function of society remains smooth.
We developed an understanding of right and wrong, moral and immoral, practical and impractical, what will look good or bad and more of such.
We were taught to judge things. Like conclusions, judgments also kill if they are not the right kind.
When we judge the things by comparing and doing various kinds of situational analysis, we invite one or the other kind of fears to take over our actions.
When fears take over our actions, we fail to give our best. The existence of fear itself creates a kind of energy, which takes away our attention that could be put in the work we do.
Reflect on what Napoleon Bonaparte said,
“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.”
How true …
If we allow fear to take our over our actions then obviously, more of our actions will be powered by fear. When our actions are powered by fears, scared we, won’t be able to give our 100 percent.
When to give your 100 Percent?
It depends upon how intentional you want to live your life. There are people who do not even know what an intentional life is.
Intentional life is the kind of life that is meaningful in all ways. Sure, you know that life is empty and meaningless but you create the meaning for the intention of creating the meaning in all that you do.
Given you know what an intentional life is, you should give your 100 percent in the tasks that are most important to you.
Imagine one thing that you will regret if you don’t do it now. That particular thing is an ideal candidate for giving your 100 percent.
Reflect on the following quote from Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von:
“Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”
You should give your 100 percent to the things that matter most to you, as simple as that.
Where (and Where Not) to Give Your 100 Percent?
“This is a weird question,” you might think.
No, it is not. It is an important one. You cannot give your 100 percent to everyone’s requests. You have to have your tasks written down and prioritize them based on their importance.
Once prioritized, you should give your 100 percent to the most important task.
Imagine you have seven tasks in your list. And currently, you are working on your third task. All you have to do is to complete the third task with your best ability. You cannot think about the task list, four more tasks that you have to accomplish or the past two tasks that you accomplished.
You be in the present moment and give your 100 percent energy to the task you’re working on.
For example, while writing this blog post, I focus on writing the best that I can write at this moment. I don’t think about how it will be perceived, whether people will like it or not or whether I’ll receive criticism on some of the thoughts that I have written.
But when this post is over, I will focus on all these things and revise it. While making revisions, I will think about how can I choose more effective words to convey the same thought.
So coming back to the “Where” questions, you should give your 100 percent to the task that is of highest priority based on the importance. It is okay not to give even your 1 percent to other things.
If I talk about my other interest – Software Development – which might be yours too, in that, there is a thinking paradigm called “Agile”.
When you develop software using Agile, you essentially give your 100 percent to the present, most important task. How you do that? By taking actions that conform to certain principles of developing software using agile. One such principle is about simplicity. It goes like this:
“Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential.”
We can leverage the same principle in achieving our non-software-development tasks as well. We learn to simplify the things, eliminate what is not important and give our 100% to what is important.
How to Give Your 100 Percent Anyways?
If you believe that the ones who give their 100 percent don’t have fears, you’re wrong.
They do have their part of fears but the thing is: they know how to execute anyways.
You might be wondering how to do that. Here’s one way: Susan Jeffers has written a fantastic book called “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway”, which provides you with the tools to face the fears that are stopping you from giving your 100 percent.
You will learn about how to weed negatives out of your thoughts and words, develop goals that help extend your self-imposed limitations and don’t let your insecurities ruin your present life.
Essentially, this book will help you develop a state of mind that will enable you to give your 100 percent.
To give your 100 percent anyway, you need to absolutely get clear about your priorities, eliminate what is not important, and invest all of your energies in the most important task.
In closing, I’d invite you to give your 100 percent to the most important things and live an intentional, regretless life. You don’t need an invitation to do that, do you?
Photo Credits: Johan Larsson/Flickr
