Aim for 101% completion #

We all have a tendency to stop trying hard as we are within reach of our goals. We start fooling ourselves with it’s just one more page that I have to write, it is just one more review that I have to do, it is just one more … . That one more thing is never just one more thing but we like to bath in the idea that our goals are just within the reach of one more thing because it is actually comforting.

The problem is that in the moment we have our goal within the reach of one more thing, is the moment at which we stop putting so much effort into achieving it, we fall into the trap of the small thing that I can do whenever I want to but seems like actually never want to do or suddenly you no longer have time to do it. 

This situation has a snowball effect and the more you keep yourself in it the harder will become to course correct and reach your goal. If you keep the situation going long enough, then you might abandon whatever is that you have been doing and lose all the effort that went into it, therefore making the last 1% of the process actually the hardest.

If it really is just one more thing why not make a last effort and be done with it? If it is not, wouldn’t you be better off knowing that what you thought of being just one more thing it’s actually a ten more things to do, or that maybe you were focused so much on the current work that you forgot that after you complete your current work there is actually a whole new slice of work to be done before you work can be put out into the world.

100 meters dash sprinters have solved this problem by actually aiming at running 101 meters. They don’t aim at crossing the official 100 meters line, but their self imposed 101 meters line. This keeps them focused for the whole 100 meters sprint and wins them 1st place prizes because at that level of competition, even the last two strides of the whole race actually make a difference.