I Want You to Give Me 55% Today

People who are good at math try to tell me that it’s impossible to give 110% like I always make a concerted effort to do. My argument is a simple one. Can you give 100%? Well, then just do that… then do 10% more.

But some folks still insist that giving that much is physically impossible, and I suppose for them it is.

So I’ll tell you what: how about giving 55% today?

That doesn’t sound so intimidating, does it? That doesn’t even sound all that difficult, when you stop and think about it. I mean, that’s just a little more than a completely half-hearted effort. Anybody can do that. Right?

You can do just a little better than what you’ve been doing, even if you haven’t been doing very much. I mean, anyone can do that, and a little’s better than nothing. Right?

Maybe 55% can be your baseline, the foundation–in terms of effort you’re willing to dedicate to achieving your goals–that you can lay down and build on for the future. It may not be much, but it’s certainly a start.

Teddy Roosevelt once said “Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” However, if you take that 55% approach, you can just paraphrase it to “It’s okay to dare miniscule things, to win tiny triumphs, to not try too, too hard… because… well, just because.”

Hmmmmm, that doesn’t really stir my heart or make me want to jump out of the airplane into the wild blue yonder. It doesn’t lift my spirits, and it sure doesn’t stoke the fires of my weight-loss engine.

Maybe it’s time for us both to admit that putting in a half-ass effort is only okay if you’re interested in half-ass results, if you’re content thinking that the way things are is the way things have to be.

I started this post thinking that I was going to try to egg you on to give a 55% effort, to at least give half of what I think you ought to be dedicating to this weight-loss journey you’re on, but I just don’t think I can do that today.

I think you’re worth more than that.

I think you’re better than that.

I goof a lot in this space, but this is oh-so serious business. This is really the beginning of a new day, and what you’ll make out of this new day is entirely up to you. Whether you want to squander it, whether you want to put in a lackluster effort or whether you want to strive to really get after it and make the most of it, I don’t have much control over how you approach this journey (after all, I can’t even make my kids do what I want them to do). At the end of the day, it’s all on you.

It’s your day to do with as you will. But I can tell you this: tomorrow’s coming right away, and when it comes, this day will be nothing but a fleeting memory. What you do today is important because you exchanged a precious piece of your life for it, and it’d be nice if you had something positive to show for it.

55%?

I don't think so.

Give it your all.