What can you do when it’s just not working?

Take a moment to think about the things you do well. Your job(s), your hobbies, whatever. Then, take another moment to think about how good you are at doing those things when you’re not full-strength.

I’m a sports fan (as you might know), and in that world I’m constantly amazed by individual performance under less than ideal circumstances. We hear stories all the time of athletes who “play hurt” and manage to do extraordinary things despite not having the edge they normally have. Brett Favre’s play after his father died is a great, famous example, but there are countless others. Bucky Lasek, for example, skated last year’s Panasonic Open in Baltimore with a torn up knee and still finished fourth.

We all catch a nasty cold now and then. We all have personal issues that have to be dealt with. We all struggle and get overwhelmed.

So it’s worth asking: how good am I at 80%? 60%? What about just 50%?

The goal should be to work to a point where we’re so good that we can execute at a high level despite reduced capacity.

Because, in all likelihood, that’s what other people are going to need and/or expect. If we stay focused only on being good at 100%, we run a very real risk of letting someone down at a critical moment.