The “110 Percent” Tomorrow Lie

As told by Dave Anderson, author of Elevate Your Excellence

In my first sales management job, my team and I had just finished a record month. I hadn’t yet learned how to survive succuss and overcome the pitfalls of complacency that often accompany prosperity. My team and I started the first four days of the next month in neutral, creating few sales and continuing to regale our numbers from the month before. We were in danger of letting our pats on the back turn into a message and a victory lap become a marathon, when the owner called me into his office.

Boss:  Anderson, what happened yesterday?

Me:  It was an off day, and today is slow too, but we will give it 110 percent and make up for it tomorrow.

Boss:  Anderson, there is no “110 percent tomorrow” BS. That’s what losers say to excuse or rationalize their failure to execute today. There’s just 100 percent each day, and if you don’t give it all that day, it’s lost forever. Tomorrow could for sure be outstanding, but it won’t make up for what you lost yesterday, or lose today, through your lack of focus, effort, or your indifference. Each day has got to stand on its own. So, lose that weaker-than-worm-whiz mindset that you can slack off today and make up ground later. Wake up, son, because you can’t. That time and those opportunities are gone forever. Last month ended four nights ago. Get your ass back to work and prove yourself again this month. Show me I’ve got the right guy in this job.

Needless to say, my bosses message came across loud and clear and was one of the most helpful lessons I ever learned to help me elevate my excellence and survive succuss by keeping a consistently hungry mindset. I applied it broadly throughout my life. It has helped me continue to challenge myself and stay in the moment – to not visit or dwell in the past for self-congratulatory applause, or to shift down and go through the motions with any task, but to bring all that I could every day, and then to the next day, and the next, until it becomes part of my nature. I learned that if you’re not all in every day, you’re not really in at all.

“Success isn’t owned, it’s leased, and rent is due every day.”
-J.J. Watt

“Don’t think of how you’re going to spend your time – use it.”
-Wilma Askins

…and as the Spanish Proverb goes…”Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.” Think about that.