150% - a Concept I Hadn’t Given Much Thought to
Bryan Baeumler, HGTV star and host of Leave it To Bryan and House of Bryan, was speaking at an event I organized on the topic of ‘harmonious relationships’. After a fun and light hearted chat hosted with his dazzling wife Sarah Baeumler, he was asked a question from the audience. “Bryan, you have hit TV shows, a super successful construction company, Sarah ran a dance studio, and now 4 kids. How do you do it all?”
Instead of a witty anecdote or joke which we all expected, his answer hushed the humming room of 400 laughing women.
With disarming honesty, he answered, “I don’t do it all. I can’t, and for that matter, no one can”. He explained that he had made the mistake previously of trying to motivate his teams, colleagues and family to “give it 150%” until he realized one thing: 150% is impossible. Each one of us is only working with 100% at any one time. To expect more is to set people up for failure and disappointment. We are human. We forget. We make mistakes. We need to do our best, and be okay with that even if it means massive failure.
Wow. Not the answer we expected from the guy who seems to do and have it all, and wonderfully real.
My question to you is, who have you been expecting 150% from? How realistic is holding yourself to a standard, which as Bryan says, it doesn’t exist?!