"A disproportionate amount of your success comes from your effort in the last 5%. Let's use fitness examples and then bring it back to work and life. Picture doing a plank. If you're feeling type A, do one after reading this. When you get to the point where you are ready to drop, say to yourself, "Just five more seconds." Count out loud, and you can do it."
"There is a power in understanding why it works. That last tiny effort causes microtears in the muscle. You surpassed your limit. You blew through the stop sign! Then your body says: My person is crazy. They might do this again. And it floods that area with lactic acid to heal those microtears. That sore feeling later is a good sore, a healing sore."
A disproportionate amount of success derives from the effort invested in the final 5% of performance. Small extra efforts—holding a plank five more seconds or completing a half push-up—surpass perceived limits and trigger physiological responses that cause microtears, lactic acid deposition, and subsequent stronger recovery. Recovery is as important as exertion because the body heals stronger after these microtears. Regularly adding tiny increments compounds into substantial improvement over time. The willingness to push slightly beyond perceived maximums distinguishes higher achievers, turning marginal extra effort into outsized gains in fitness, leadership capacity, and career progression.
Read at Fortune
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