Stirring Point

When we talk about our commitment to personal growth, various models promise us lasting outcomes if we stick to their plans. Incremental goals and training regimens are excellent for prodding us into action. Stacking a few approaches together often compounds the efficacy of each. But even the most well-crafted plans regularly fail. Why? What is it that derails our ability to achieve our chosen outcomes? 

I’ve lost thousands of battles with my willpower over the years. I tell myself today will be different: I’ll choose better food, I’ll write more, and I’ll meditate with consistency. The desire to improve is there, as is the blueprint for execution. Yet, deep-rooted behavioral patterns send me slipping into old habits. With exercise, though, I always manage to show up. No matter what, I never skip a day.

Three years ago I made a final decision about exercise: My days of choosing if “I would” or if “I would not” workout were over. There’d be no more “ifs” when it came to movement. With exercise, I’d follow the “100% rule.” 

Author and academic Clayton Christensen introduced the 100% rule in his 2012 book How Will You Measure Your Life? with the following quote:

“It’s easier to hold your principles 100 percent of the time than it is to hold them 98 percent of the time.”

In practice, this quote suggests that envisioning a process and committing to it fully is easier to do when there’s no space for doubt. If a commitment is only 98%, then the decision has yet to be fully made. This distinction is small and obvious, but it matters. Even a 2% margin can allow for decision fatigue, and decision fatigue can drive a wedge between our plan to succeed and our material execution. 2% is an indication that we’ve yet to make up our minds—that we’re not all in—that our choice can still change.

Once we apply the 100% rule, the choice has been decided. This mantra removes hurdle-like decisions from our equation and frees our minds to focus elsewhere. As an example, here’s the personal rule I follow: 

“I will exercise for 30 minutes every day without fail, regardless of life’s circumstances.” 

I use “exercise” loosely here because I know there’ll be days when my routines fall to pieces. Flying, work deadlines, illness and injury are all interruptions to “traditional” exercise. And while I can’t avoid all interruptions, I can adapt to honor my rule. A brisk walk around the airport, light stretching at the office, push-ups in a hotel room—these efforts add up. If I’m ill and lying in bed, can I roll out my wrists? Can I open and close my hands? This may sound extreme but these examples illustrate the proportional nature of the rule. Exercise here is regarded as the meaningful movement of my body. Some days I’ll manage 2 hours. Other days, I manage just 30 minutes. No matter what, though, I never miss.

The beauty of 100% commitment is the liberation we’re granted from the volatility of decision-making. We remove the “should I” and “will I have time” questions from our day. As sure as I eat, breathe, and open my eyes every morning, I move for 30 minutes. The only choice now is how I move my body, and that’s proportional to my body’s needs and the day’s requirements. 

Why embrace this? Well, the world is filled with incredible temptations. Calories are everywhere. Distractions are perpetual. Excuses are unending. Commitment to a meaningful act is sometimes the skeleton key we need to unlock our greater potential, and the 100% rule does this by stripping our days of fatigue-inducing choices.

This is a somewhat Draconian approach, and I’m sure it will cause some folks to recoil. There’s no accountability buddy here to keep us honest and when we inevitably fail, we fumble our principle. But the commitment to the relentless effort to keep our principle in place is what strengthens commitment over time. The 100% rule is no silver bullet, but it helps clear the debris-filled pathway littered with our failed excuses. And that matters.

What decisions are you tired of making that are robbing you of a healthy commitment? Is it 10 minutes a day with no distractions? 20 minutes a day of reading? Are you done drinking soda? Or watching reality TV? If you could flip a switch in your brain to rewire your mind to 100% commitment for one task, what would it be?