Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Giving 110%
High school basketball coaches are infamous for this. They ask their players to give 110%. At first it sounds like a legitimate request, but then you have to do a little analysis and ask yourself:
"Is it even possible to give more than you have?"
We live in a debt-driven society. This question is one that people seldom bother to bring up. Does it matter if I only have $30 in the bank? Can't I still buy a $200 gadget-gizmo-thingy on my credit card? We drive cars we can never buy, live in houses we can never own, go on trips we could never afford, all on tomorrow's dime.
Do you remember Wimpy J. Wellington, from Popeye? "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." You probably don't remember this line from one of my Top Ten:
So I did the math and I figured out what happens when you give 110%. Assuming that you start with a capacity of 100% on any given day, and you give 110% on that day, you borrow 10% of your capacity from the next day. The next day, you start at only 90% capacity. If you again give 110% on day 2, you'd be left with only 81% capacity the next day to begin with. However, it should be noted that your 110% that day is effectively only 99% of your actual full capacity. Repeat this process for a whole week, and you go into the weekend at less than 60% full capacity. Do it for a month and you've depleted your capacity to less than 5%. That's what happens when you give 110%.
I realize that this post is a bit disconnected, but it's the best I could offer for a Wednesday, especially the day after I...
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"Is it even possible to give more than you have?"
We live in a debt-driven society. This question is one that people seldom bother to bring up. Does it matter if I only have $30 in the bank? Can't I still buy a $200 gadget-gizmo-thingy on my credit card? We drive cars we can never buy, live in houses we can never own, go on trips we could never afford, all on tomorrow's dime.
Do you remember Wimpy J. Wellington, from Popeye? "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." You probably don't remember this line from one of my Top Ten:
Well, I see something and I want it
Bam! Right now! No questions asked
Don't worry how much it costs me now or later
I want it and I want it fast
I'll go to any length
Sacrifice all that I already have
And all that I might get
Just to get something more that I don't need
And Lord, please don't ask me what for
So I did the math and I figured out what happens when you give 110%. Assuming that you start with a capacity of 100% on any given day, and you give 110% on that day, you borrow 10% of your capacity from the next day. The next day, you start at only 90% capacity. If you again give 110% on day 2, you'd be left with only 81% capacity the next day to begin with. However, it should be noted that your 110% that day is effectively only 99% of your actual full capacity. Repeat this process for a whole week, and you go into the weekend at less than 60% full capacity. Do it for a month and you've depleted your capacity to less than 5%. That's what happens when you give 110%.
I realize that this post is a bit disconnected, but it's the best I could offer for a Wednesday, especially the day after I...
- ...took the ornaments off our Christmas tree.
- ...finished watching Hoosiers.
- ...paid cash for a flat screen monitor at Best Buy.
- ...wrote a paper about "a time when there was distrust in my organization".
- ...took my wife out to dinner for her birthday.
- ...downloaded the ESV Bible for my Palm.
- ...failed to make it to "Iron Men" for the second week in a row.
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Comments:
I too am irritated when I hear the recommendation to give more than 100%, as if that was even a coherent statement.
-J>
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-J>
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