Will You Give 110%?
Why I no longer do & neither should you
I am sitting writing this post at my computer at 6 o’clock on a Friday in an empty office deciding whether to pack up and call it a day or to stick around and tackle the ever growing list of things that I would like to do.
Now there are no shortage of people out there advising you to push yourself to the limit in pursuit of your (or in a lot of cases someone else’s) definition of success.
This viewpoint is peddled throughout our education system and the workplace and those who do are idolised, and, those who don’t are cast aside. The whole attitude can be summed up in the ridiculous phrase that tumbles out of seemingly well-educated people on shows like The Apprentice:
“I always give 110%”
Now don’t get me wrong I have spent most of my life as one of the above people, I have always worked longer hours than I should. This goes back to my formative years in business working at Lidl in their fast-track graduate program straight out of University where 100 hour working weeks were the norm. As well as working long hours I’ve always taken on side projects from being on the Board of Junior Chamber of Commerce to starting businesses on the side.
Taking a Stand
These common held beliefs need to be challenged and we need to start building businesses that are fit for humans.
The problem is that if we don’t address these problems head on they will eventually catch up with us. Tackling these problems start at a personal level and mean taking control of your own life.
Hara Hachi Bu
Justin Jackson wrote a fantastic piece here on Medium about his experience of working too much and the resulting negative consequences viewed through the lens of hara hachi bu- the Japanese practice of only eating until you are 80% full. Jackson has since applied this thinking to his wider life in the form of mental hara hachi bu after his life hit a wee speed wobble.
I read this article around the same time that my first son came along and I started a business and I realised that if I continued in a similar vein I could be leading myself down a similar path to Justin.
I started to realise that I could no longer expend 100% of my energy throughout the day and crash into bed physically and mentally exhausted. I very quickly realised that even though I was ready to go to bed, that was not always what was on my sons mind. Going to bed at 1am we could easily end up being awake for another 2,3 or maybe even more hours. During this time period I noticed that I didn’t have the emotional capacity to deal with a crying baby. This was just a very brief insight into what could become a bigger problem and caused me to make some changes in my life.
Justin’s article gave me an insight into my own life and I am working hard to follow in Jackson’s footsteps. I now look to expend only 80% of my mental and physical energy in a day leaving enough reserves in the tank to deal with life’s challenges…and appreciate the simple little things that have been passing me by.
I’m a firm believer that the workplace is one of the biggest intervention points for taking action- it is where we spend the vast majority of our adult times. For the first time in my life I am truly in control of my business life and how it interacts with my work life. I am fully committed to keeping this front of mind as I grow Flux Insights but I know it will be difficult. There is no point in driving short-term growth in our businesses if it means burning out our people.
I spend a lot of time with startups but I am often left feeling disappointed that as entrepreneurs build their businesses they do so based so rigidly on the status quo. The biggest opportunity we have as entrepreneurs is to create great organisations that challenge the status quo and truly unleash the untapped potential of individuals. We have the chance to write our own rules and abandon old, out-dated assumptions about business. Not only is this good for people but it is good for the bottom line.
I am glad I learnt this the easy way and not the hard way like Justin and I can start to build more positive habits into my personal and work life. As many people before me have found, when you take your foot off the gas a little the quality and quantity of your out put increases, it doesn’t decrease.
That is why I will no longer give 110% and neither should you.
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