Motivation Mantra: 99 out of a 100.

(Picture that is notmotivational but still relevant by Aline)

BFF Lin is training for her fourth marathon, and writes about this weekly on her blog. I faithfully read these (I like reading blogs about running and oh I’m obsessed with her). In the last one I found a little quote that nudged itself into my way of thinking and hasn’t left since.

I figured I’d share.

So.

Lin writes: “I was supposed to run, but I didn’t feel like it. While 99 times out of a 100 I don’t give into to this, tonight I do and blissfully enjoy a night on the couch with wine and Netflix.”

Additional to my ‘You Go Glen Coco’ response to Lin cutting herself some slack, the “99 out of 100”-phrase stuck with me.

99 times out of a 100.

I liked that phrase. I let it spin around in my thoughts for a while, repeating it to myself, getting the feel of it. 99 out of a 100.

That is 99% of the time. That is 99 times where you choose to do something, even though you kind of don’t want to. Even though you might be tired, cranky, hungry, sore, not feeling it, bored. But you still do it, 99 times out of a 100. You say ‘so what’ to the low energy, to the stress, to whatever it is, and you just do it. It is only ever the 100th time, that’s when you give in and let yourself off the hook.

Doesn’t that sound good?

I’m not a 99/100 person.

I’m a 50/100 person. 60/100 when I’m excited about stuff.

Doesn’t mean I’m not awesome (I mean, pssh), but I do lack a certain amount of discipline and follow through. Discipline that I do want to have, and that I need to not feel like a slacker, and follow through would be very useful for all the many dumb ideas and plan I have.

I give in pretty easily to my own emotions, urges and distractions. I get tired, bored. There’s food to be eaten, people to hang out with, Drag Queens to be watched on the Internet. When ‘I don’t feel like it’, I don’t fucking do it.

And it’s okay, usually. Because of my entire War Chest of Productivity Tricks and a decent baseline in terms of health and stamina I can get away with this. It’s not the end of the world. I get shit done. I can hold my own during a run, a yoga class and running to make the train.

But I have a lack of follow through. And distractions and obstacles and inconvenciences easily get the best of me. Which sucks when you’re also the Type A (over)achiever type of idiot.

I liked the 99 out of a 100. I know it’s meant to be a figure of speech, but it gave me an idea. Why not take it literally? What if I tried to do things 99 times out of a 100? Try to get to 99 before I give in? Do 99 times of something before I let myself slack off’.

I kept it in my mind, and it kept me going. I liked the ’99/100’.

It’s short and sweet, which is easy to remember and keep around as a useful mantra. And come on, 99? That is A LOT of something.

99 Pomodoro blocks, 99 work-outs, 99 times of choosing water over soda, 99 times of picking a healthier choice, 99 days of meditating, 99 times of choosing the high road, 99 times of picking the right choice over the easy one.

Which makes for a lot of productivity, endorphins, results, and moments you will probably look back on with pride. All of those 99 things are useful experiences that give you results, lessons and have an effect on how you think about yourself — you might become a 60/100, to a 70/100, to a 80/100…

And though this might just be my hedonistic, lazy ass having weird motives,   it kind of inspires to get in as much of these 99 in as little time as possible, so you can get to the 100th time where it’s okay to let loose.

You can hold onto the 99/100-rule easy enough in your day-to-day life. As a mantra, in your mind or on a Post-It. You can even literally measure it even if helps. You can tally it in your planner of Bullet Journal.

It’s February now. The first Monday of the fresh, new month in fact.

What do you want to this month, 99 times out of a 100? I suggest we start scoring. Let’s go.

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4 comments

  1. Voor mij staat de komende week in het teken van carnaval, dus ik ga ja zeggen tegen 99 van de 100 biertjes 😉 Daarna is het wel echt weer tijd om ff gezond te leven, dus wie weet kan ik dan ook ja zeggen tegen de gezonde opties!

  2. Ah, dit komt precies op het goede moment, dank! Februari wordt mijn ‘ik schop kont in het huishouden’-maand en ik ga elke dag 7 minuten sporten, via zo’n nifty 7 minutes-app. Allebei dingen die niet van nature in m’n systeem zitten, dus elk beetje extra motivatie komt van pas!

  3. Mooie! Ik vind het idee van dat je best een keer iets niet mag doen omdat je normaal al zoveel doet en zo je best doet wel een hele fijne motivatietip 🙂