99% Good

99% Good

Homework...
probably not 100%

For the most part, we don't need 100% in our lives.  When you think about "good enough" in terms of most parts of life...in reality...we don't "need" a 100% score.  Think about the old "C's get degrees" and the old joke, "What do you call the person who graduated last at medical school?..."Doctor."  When you're at work, 100% all the time, every day just isn't a reality.  The striving for perfection is likely a recipe for burnout and failure due to unrealistic expectations.  If we saddle ourselves with an unattainable "perfection" as a standard, that just doesn't live in reality and certainly doesn't have staying power.  Oftentimes, the right goal line is progress...not perfection in life.  We have to give ourselves (and our loved ones) that grace in most parts of our lives.

Jumping
motorcycles...
probably so.

On the other hand, there are times when 100% is required.  Seth Godin recently had a good article that got me thinking.  What if your doctor and nurse team scrubbed 99% of the germs off their hands, then rooted around...the infection will probably still kill you.  What about a pilot who generally lands the plane well enough to walk away 99% of the time?  How about when you choose not to have an affair 99% of the time?  There are times in our lives when the standard has to be a 100%...all the time, every time propositions...not "good enough."  Those things have to be selected sparingly and then have systems to scaffold up the lofty ideals.  Where there is no margin of error...we have to have so-called "bomb proof" ways of doing business that allow us to be successful.  

Grocery shopping
probably not.

It's been said, "How you do one thing is how you do everything."  In our 100% category, at some level, is our character and by extension, our reputation.  Are you the person who shows up and does half the job?  Do you cut corners?  Are you always late?  Are you "retired on active duty?"  There's a saying out west, "Ride For The Brand," where it boils down, as Louis L'Amour, famed western writer, put it (paraphrased), "if you take a man's money, give a man's size day of work."  In other words, show up and do the thing.  All of us can have our cheat days where we slack off, reset, and refresh.  But...if you stray too far away from that 100% ideal, pretty soon your reputation is who you are...the cheat...the slacker...the lazy one...the sloppy one.  Those aren't adjectives that most of us want to be associated with our names.  If you start down that slippery slope..."I'm only sloppy at work"...it doesn't stay there...soon enough, you'll be that same sloppy person at home...with your kids...with your marriage vows...with your finances.  Aristotle said it best, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Grading dad...
maybe so.

In life around the house, most of the things we do...don't have to be perfect.  Taking out the trash...most of the time works...especially if your family can rally around the other times.  Doing dishes?  Folding laundry?  Cooking dinner?  Reading to the kids?  Most are fine with "most" as a good enough standard.  It's important not to frame these things in the binary, "it's not 100%, so 0% is a fine answer."  This "good enough" standard isn't an excuse or pass to slack off or get the job half done...it's a reminder to be a human...in particular...the kind of human that you'd want your loved one to be able to love.  This means leaning in and pulling your weight around the house...in all the ways.  

Rollerskating...
probably not.

It's been said that marriage is a 50/50 prospect, where if we both just do half the stuff all the time, we should be fine.  In reality, if we're both closer to leaning in 100%, 100% of the time on the concepts, marriage goes more smoothly.  This isn't to say that we have to have a wrestling match on who is doing dishes tonight...but if we both lean toward 100% of trying to serve the other spouse...that's a win ("you do the dishes, I'll catch the laundry").  Communicate clearly...win.  Love unconditionally...win.  Help out in general with the household chores...win.  Lean into our agreed-upon roles and strengths...win.  No team needs 11 quarterbacks...when we all play our role at home as best as we can...breadwinner, homemaker, mother, father, husband, wife, servant, follower, learner, leader, lover...we win.  

Basking in the little
moments...for sure.

In prepping for this post, we chatted about those 100%, cannot get them wrong sort of things.  Building a bridge or skyscraper...probably so.  The examples of the doctor scrubbing or the pilot landing...probably so.  In trying to lump a category together and label it, probably something like regarding life-altering/life-or-death consequences.  In using that test or question to put stuff in or out in our own lives, it may help us frame the different pieces and consequently allow us to put the proper attention and resource investment in the right places in our homes.  Faith...100%.  Love...100%.  Hope...100%.  Forgiveness...probably 100%.  Fidelity in our marriage...100%.  Chores...not so much.  Honey-do list...not so much.  

Archery...not
so much.

As we wrap it up for the week...challenge yourself to be a leader in your home that really spends some introspective time reflecting on your 100% buckets...can you say you're nailing it...every time on the most important things?  Can you say that in the other things...the trivial ones...that you're in the 99% bucket?  More often than not?  Sometimes bucket?  The "that's her/his job" bucket?  If you've been in the wrong bucket for a while...there's no better time than right now while you're reading this to bump up your efforts and start 100% from here forward...or in the less important stuff...leaning in more than you have historically.  

With you in the arena, from ours to yours...Happy Trails!

Call to Action: 

• Pick out a couple of things that are 100% things in your home.  Discuss with your family the systems in place to make sure it's happening.  (E.g., how do you remind your spouse and kids that you love no matter what...for always...100%?)
• 1 - ___________________ 
• 2 - ___________________
• 3 - ___________________
• Discussion: Consider what you/your family could/would/should (level of commitment) and start/stop/sustain (action) in terms of the 100%er categories.  Are you all walking the walk and talking the talk?  Do you need a little pep rally?  

Further Reading, Motivation, and References:

- The 100 Percent Rule - Medium

- Red Stegall - Ride For The Brand