Is 80% of success, just showing up?
“Every day of our lives, we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference”- Mignon McLaughlin
Albert Einstein wrote the following equations on the blackboard, in the midst of teaching a class:
9 x 1 = 9, 9 x 2 = 18, 9 x 3 = 27, 9 x 4 = 36, 9 x 5 = 45
9 x 6 = 54, 9 x 7 = 63, 9 x 8 = 72, 9 x 9 = 81, 9 x 10 = 91
Suddenly, chaos erupted in the classroom. Albert Einstein had made a basic arithmetic mistake: 9 x 10 isn’t 91.
Einstein calmly waited for everyone to be silent, then said:
“Despite the fact that I analyzed nine problems correctly, no one congratulated me. But when I made one mistake, everyone started laughing. This means that even if a person is successful, society will notice their slightest mistake.
So, don’t let criticism destroy your dreams. The only person who never makes a mistake is someone who does nothing.”
Wherever you are in your well-being journey, you have to recognize that there are going to be plateaus. There are going to be periods where you are stagnant and nothing seems to be happening. Sometimes that’s just how it goes.
Now imagine you go 9 out of 10 for your movement and recovery pillar, 9 out of 10 for your sleep pillar, 9 out of 10 for your nutrition pillar, as well as 9 out of 10 for both mindset and connection. That would be excellent, but what if someone decided to troll you because you didn’t go 10 out of 10 in each category? Would you let that bother you?
Now imagine the same scenario as above, but instead of going 9 out of 10 for each of the pillars, you go 8 out of 10 in each of the pillars. Would you get down on yourself because you went 8 out of 10?
We each have our own unique well-being journeys. Just like the Einstein example I noted above, regardless of how well you do, there are going to be those that don’t think you did well enough or don’t understand why you do what you do. It’s up to you whether you let that bother you negatively or whether you use it positively as fuel.
Consistently put the work in. Have a positive mindset. We can always do better, that’s what makes the process fun. Forward, always!