There are so many reasons not to be at 100% right now

There are so many reasons not to be at 100% right now.  I mean, you could probably read this short article while holding a thought about dinner tonight, while listening to someone else or music on your MP3 player and reviewing the newspaper all at the same time!

You could have already stopped reading this entry, a memory of something long ago or a reminder of something you have yet to do grabbing your focus, all of this going on all around, and me, another blogger, vying for a bit of your attention. 

But, we have to face the facts: You are not the only one who is attention-challenged. Like you, there are other things I could be doing.  Reviewing new e-mail, drafting a speech, writing a card to my mom, or even talking to the person sharing my table here at the coffee shop.  (I am writing this at a local coffee shop in Raleigh, NC.)  But no, not right now. Right now I am writing a short article.

You've decided to bring this blog into your focus, and of all the things you could be doing, at least up to right now, you've chosen to stick with me.

So, I will return the favor...

Do you know how sometimes life comes at us so fast that it seems overwhelming and undoable? Well, this is a topic I have studied for a long, long time.  And what I have found, and continue to trust, is THE way to engage at my 100% is to simply choose back in.

Of course, but that is a loaded statement.  It requires acknowledgment at several different levels.  I have to have the ability to.

Recognize when and where I am not at 100%.
Make it okay with me that I was not at my best.
Re-commit to stepping up and making something happen.
Use the tools strategies and behaviors I know of to enhance my performance.
Settle into a rhythm of engagement, knowing that I will fall out of that rhythm sooner or later.

I know I can not be ON all the time.  Neither can you.  It just is not possible to be at the SAME 100% all the time.  This is a topic I discuss in seminars, and it continues to interest clients when I bring it up in conversation. You see, you are always at your 100%; what is important to know is that your 100% varies day-to-day.
Even if it is a little less one day or more another, it is not possible to perform at 80% one day or 120% another. The NUMBER does not vary, but the subjective measurement of what 100% is or looks like does.