The romanticism of giving it a 100%

The romanticism of giving it a 100% every time, can be very taxing for a lot of people. In this smart, playful, and provocative environment whether at work or in personal life, we are all deluged with the idea of giving our 100 percent on all aspects of attributes that orbit ourselves and our lives. One of today’s most original business thinkers argues that we underestimate the importance of doing justice to ourselves and resort to fulfilling short-term accomplishments, whether these goals are for family or workplace, or career.

Against the backdrop of eroding mental health, pervasive workplace challenges, and the desire to seek acknowledgment for our behaviors, we are often wrapped and trapped in the temptation to give our 100 percent even for those mundane tasks that do not qualify our attention in entirety. For instance, if we pour 100 percent of our energy into every task then we won’t just waste time, we will also stress ourselves out and eventually, make ourselves sick which in turn has an adverse impact on our productivity.

In order to combat our tendency to over-commit, one does not have to go berserk and commit to a million projects or banish everything fun from your life. However, on the contrary, one needs to recognize what are the long-term goals one is chasing as a first, real step to progress. I often come across pieces of advice on how to maximize productivity or optimize the work environment or otherwise work at 100 percent capacity 100 percent of the time, it is often perceived as everyone is trying to program themselves for optimal efficiency like some well-oiled machine.

Of course, as humans, we get tired, burned out, and pissed off at our coworkers, and there are days we feel inexplicably unmotivated.

In a situation like this, it is advisable to practice self-control by not letting ourselves get consumed completely by the project. The more self-control we spend on a particular work task, the more mental energy we have for the next project. Secondly, in a situation like this, it is recommended we apply Pareto Principle, a concept taken from economics. The Pareto Principle suggests that 80 percent of our output comes from 20 percent of our input. Hence, it advocates that one can achieve most of their results without the midnight cubicle marathons and stress-induced migraines. Thirdly, it is further advocated we pursue a cost-benefit analysis before committing completely to a task or a project. Lastly, the turmoil we undergo while investing extra time and energy in a task that does not require such investment may make our manager marginally happier but may abstain us from accomplishing anything else

So, let's promise ourselves that even though there will be a million challenges every day in our lives and a million other projects that will always need our attention, we will choose the battles we want to commit faultlessly to, and for everything else, life will need to come first!