The Inspiration
I don’t often wake up and feel perfect.
I don’t think most of us do.
For a while, I was stuck in a belief that I had to be at 100% at all times to be successful.
So when I wasn’t, I procrastinated.
This could lead to an email stuck on ‘unread’ all week or to the extreme of a full-on retreat back to bed.
But this wasn’t a realistic approach to the balanced and ambitious life I wanted to live.
The Innovation
I needed to adopt a simple, but powerful, shift in perspective:
“It’s OK to feel less than 100%.”
For those who are stuck like I was, this can feel like a revelation.
For those who aren’t, it can be a soft reminder to check-in.
The Action
When we don’t feel our best, we have a choice;
- Blue pill – put our world on hold until we feel better
- Red pill – accept how we feel and make the best of it
While it is essential to rest and recover when we need it (the ‘blue pill’), I want to draw attention to the benefits of the ‘red pill’.
The approach can help us adapt and create forward momentum, even in the face of less-than ideal circumstances.
The Debrief
Life is a marathon, not a sprint. A cliché that I need to reinforce as a mantra.
When we’re run-down, it’s OK to slow to a walk and recover.
When we feel better, we pick up the pace.
But we don’t want to be stuck at the start line or collapse before we finish.
Remember, even small steps move us closer toward whatever it is that we strive to be, achieve, or experience.
Chris (and Sprout!)
Great read! I struggle with the <100% conundrum all the time, so this really resonated.
It also reminded me of a quote from computer science academic, Randy Pausch: "Engineering isn't about perfect solutions; it's about doing the best you can with limited resources."
Mental energy, just like everything else, is a limited resource, and the amount you get can vary from day to day. That conscious check-in to see how much you have in the tank could really help with deciding where to spend that energy instead of whether.