The
100-Percent Rule: The Simple Advice That Changed My Life
I have a friend who quit eating sugar two
years ago. When we go out to eat, I almost always get dessert. “Will you have a
bite?” I ask, testing her. “No thanks!” She always responds with ease and
indifference. Must be so hard for her to turn down a beignet every single
time—right?
Wrong.
Put simply, it's far too easy to waste our
time, money, and energy by not committing wholeheartedly to
something important to us. We intend to start blogging (for real this time),
but keep getting distracted. We spend way too much money on clothes when we try
to cut down on online shopping.
But it's our well-meaning "99-percent
effort" that is exhausting. It consumes energy without producing results.
It’s stressful. It makes us feel like a failure when we’re not—we just haven’t
fully committed to something. Putting 99-percent effort into things that matter
in life means we are constantly falling short of our potential—and feeling bad
about it.
The 100-Percent Rule
When I was at a conference earlier this year,
I heard a statement I knew would change my business. I later realized it would
also change my entire life.
The statement? Ninety-nine percent is
hard—100 percent is easy. Or as Jack Canfield, the best-selling author
of The Success Principles,puts it (in slightly more aggressive
terms): "99 percent is a b*tch. 100 percent is a breeze." Take
a moment to let that sink in.
Then consider the following individuals: my
sister, who is a strict vegan; my neighbor, a six-time New York Times-best-selling
author; and a comedian who publishes a new YouTube video every week without
fail. No exceptions or breaks or excuses.
Is it hard? Maybe when they first got
started. But now my sister knows exactly which foods to buy, where, and how to
cook them. The author writes every single day, not just when he feels inspired.
The YouTuber is constantly learning new skills, researching, and developing new
routines, each one better than the last.
If something is tugging at you and has been
over time, you’ve probably been "99-percenting" it too long. Here's
how to finally give it your all.
1. Identify exactly what needs 100 percent of
your attention.
Your writing? Your photography? A side-hustle idea that has been percolating for a while but requires action? A habit
you need to quit altogether—online shopping, drinking soda, even seeing a
certain toxic person?
Not everything in your life needs 100-percent
effort. But your heart always knows what truly does. You don’t have to go crazy
and commit to a million projects or banish everything fun from your life. Your
"100 percent" right now is probably just one thing. What is it?
2. Put in the effort.
Commit to writing for one hour per day, seven
days per week. Pinpoint exactly how to make your first sale for your side
hustle (you can do it)! Delete your online shopping accounts, throw out the
soda, or end that relationship once and for all. And don’t look back.
For me, I came to realize that my "100
percent" was finishing my book. I had been going at it 99 percent for two
years, and after hearing this advice, I finally finished it—in just two months.
It wasn’t easy, but it was easier than thinking about my book on the subway, on
vacation, when cooking, and when out with friends. Nowit’s complete.
When I shifted gears to 100 percent, there were no decisions to make. It
was write or die!
Ninety-nine-percenting was so much harder. It
weighed on me daily. It was heavier than the actual task at hand. The decision
fatigue was killing me: "Should I write or go out?" "Should I
write or go grocery shopping?" "Should I write or call a
friend?" When I shifted gears to 100 percent, there were no decisions to
make. It was write or die!
3. Repeat (again and again).
True happiness is the joy we experience when
we move toward our potential. The beautiful part is when we apply the
100-percent rule to a task at hand, we complete it. A project gets wrapped. A
once-hopeful intention becomes a habit. A goal is met.
It then frees up adequate mental space for
the next priority to become clear, since we’re not plagued by guilt about other
multiple half-assed projects. And when we give 100 percent, other
not-as-important stuff falls away in the meantime: It’s an awesome perk to an
already pretty-awesome rule.
Why do some people succeed over others? Because
they commit completely to something. If you know anyone who is
self-made and grew their wealth over time, you know they are not half-assed
about their investment strategy. If someone writes best-selling book after
best-selling book, you know they're not sitting down to write every so often,
or whenever they feel like it. If you know someone who's built up a loyal
YouTube following, you know they're continually making the effort to put out
new, unique content.
It’s called commitment.
http://greatist.com/live/productivity-tips-the-100-percent-rule?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=story5_cta&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter_2016-08-17_mails_daily_new_header
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