The Last 3% Effort

      I think we all have people who come into our lives who we would like to emulate.  They are the kind of people who inspire you to want to be better, and you want to learn all that you can from them.  I could rattle off names of several women who inspire me, but one woman in particular really touched my heart and made me stop and think.  This woman is Teresa Andersen, and the best part is , I am sure she doesn't even have a clue how much her words and actions have sparked something inside of me.  

      Last month I had an A-HA moment.  This moment was ignited by talk of an entry that Teresa had written on her blog about giving an extra 3% effort to every thing you do.  These words went right to my heart.  Honestly, sometimes I feel like I am only operating on 60% effort.  I do enough to just barely get by.  And just barely getting by can work out fine for the most part, but I have come to realize how special you can make a person feel when you give just a little bit more effort.  I can be the most thoughtful person sometimes but I rarely put those thoughts into action.  I don’t like that about myself, but rather then beat myself up over what I could have or should have done, I have been inspired to give that extra 3%. 

 

"Frequently our ability to rejoice,

to use our creativity, to feel our own abilities,

uniqueness, and effectiveness- our opportunity

to celebrate- is contained in those last precious

moments of effort and thought"