Please Read This With A British Accent

Once upon a time, I was watching a video about a bald-headed man with yellow reading glasses and a bright tie. I don't remember the colour of his tie, because I didn't think it was important at the time. The bald-headed man spoke about a time when he was traveling the world, standing on the world’s greatest stages, looking to inspire the crowds. And inspire them he did.

In the video, he spoke about a time when he was up on a stage and made an odd request. "Raise your hands," said the man with the yellow reading glasses. The crowds murmured, looking around to see who will follow the instructions first. “C’mon mates” urged the bald-headed man with the yellow reading glasses, “raise your hands as high as you can.” And so the crowd raised their hands as high as they could. “Fair enough”, said the man with the yellow reading glasses. “Now, raise your hands a little higher.” And miraculously, the men and women in the crowd managed to raise their hands an inch or 2, or even 6, higher.

“Strange,” said the bald-headed man, “I just requested that you raise your hands as high as you could”, and yet you saw later that you could’ve raised them higher.”

“That’s the thing about humans”, continued the man with the yellow reading glasses, and I am paraphrasing here. “We always think that we’re giving our all, but when urged to give a little bit more, we find it possible to do so! Whenever we embark on a new project, we tell ourselves we’re giving our all, but in fact, we can do more, we can give more, we can be more!”

I agreed with the bald-headed man as I drifted from the video, to reflect upon what he just said. I too only give 90 if not 70 percent of my full potential when I embark on a new project. I hold a little bit out so that if that project fails I have an excuse- I could tell myself it wasn’t that big of a project, to begin with. Or if it does work out, I can now give my full energy to the project as momentum catches on.

I’ll be perfectly honest with you, I don’t remember what the bald-headed man with the yellow reading glasses and bright coloured tie, of which I can’t remember clearly either, said throughout the rest of the video. And I’m too lazy to go find that video again and watch it over a second time. Like, who wants to hear the same message twice? I know it was important, but like every other typical human, my attention span is only that long. And my mind couldn’t help but think about all the times I gave less than 100%.

In a semi-guilt-tripping fashion, I went over my previous businesses which I had started slowly and quit, tactlessly. I thought about all the times when I wanted to do something phenomenal but ended up with something average- something safe. And although I know I have much more to give, I mean, don’t we all?, there’s a small part of me that’s afraid I am giving my all, and it just isn’t good enough.

But then again, we always think we're giving our all, but when urged a little further, we find ourselves able to give more! So think about your life, are you giving it your all? If the answer is yes it should reflect in all or at least most areas of your life: in your behaviour, your temperament, and your emotional bank account. If not, then perhaps, just maybe, you have a little more, or even a lot more, within you.

Conclusively, if you’re ready to challenge yourself to give more, you can start by showing up to a business event this Wednesday. Giving more requires learning more, taking small actions more, and showing up for yourself a little more. You may register for the event here: https://www.dhirubhai.net/events/4mistakesthatkeepyoustressedout6762320918925598720/