Going 120%
I’m not sure if you or anyone you know went on some crazy idea where the person felt more than compelled to finish a goal that seemed ridiculous, well, I have become this person this year.
I have, in some way, criticized this behavior, but in 2018 I have finally understood what it meant. It is not about really achieving that goal, it is about not missing the opportunity of trying, and, if necessary, failing.
I had one real goal for the year 2018: read at least 12 books. I knew for a fact that there was no way I could get one book per month and really read it, so, I went and decided to give Audible a try and the end result is insane: I have doubled my goal.
Along the way, I had split the learning from Marketing and Business books and Science Fiction books.
The more I learned the more excited I got on trying new things so I have decided to build a product and place it for sale on Amazon. I have actually written a couple articles about it and, after a couple months, I have done it.
Meanwhile, I was helping my wife in taking care of the administration of the store and leading my team on achieving the goals that we have taken for the year on my daily job.
That is when I realized that I was doing too much. Too many things to focus. Too many goals to achieve and, like how a liver reacts to a lot of alcohol drinking, my brain started to react to the excess of everything.
It was like it was telling me to slow down, but I didn’t want it to. I wanted to go a lot over the 120% mark. I wanted to achieve it all. I wanted to push the limits.
I was wrong: There is so much your brain can handle.
It is like a muscle. If you push it too far, it will get hurt and, guess what, you will need time to heal.
I had a small warning on how your brain can stress out and realized that, once your brain is tired, stressed, you can’t do much. It just doesn’t handle your need for constant learning, trying, achieving, going 120%.
It is finally the end of the year. November is here and soon it will be Thanksgiving. After that Christmas and everything slows down. I will use this time to also slow down a little bit (since I can’t really slow down) and start planning for 2019.
The difference from this year for the next is that, in 2019, I want to have goals that are realistic, achievable and balanced.
Going 120% is pretty neat and I know that there are a lot of articles that mention how you must do it, but wait before you do that, remember this:
The most efficient and successful people only focus on the 20/80 rule, or even better, the 4/64 rule. Basically, both say: focus on what is important.
