#140 The two percent

Hello, friends.

“Always take the stairs.” These are the words I hear in my head anytime I encounter an elevator or escalator. My fitness coach gave them to me during my brief pro golf stint. They’ve stuck around, loitering in my subconscious with a thousand other axioms, proverbs, and random pop culture references.

He said this because “going the extra mile” compounds to produce great results over time. One habit I remember is of me carrying my golf bag during practice loaded with an umbrella, rain gear, sweater, extra balls, and sometimes bricks, regardless of the conditions.

This week while reading some of Michael Easter’s work on The Comfort Crisis, I was again reminded of taking the stairs.

However, the context Easter uses is that people who take the stairs instead of an electric lift are “2-percent-ers”. I believe this is what my old pal Wendell was getting at, all be it not as eloquently.

The 2% of course, is a metaphor for choosing the slightly tougher path versus the one of least resistance. Doing so, not only builds toughness (mental and physical), it also helps you be more appreciative.

My kids, as I did at their age, groan as if they’ve been gut-punched when I instruct them to work out their math problem by hand or look up a word for themselves instead of telling them what it means. Heck, I’m sure folks in our companies today roll their eyes when I answer their question with the question of “Did you research it? What do you think we should do?”

I bet if you looked at companies that rise to the top and people who accomplish what they set out to do, you’d see they’re part of the “2-percent” club. They did things that didn’t scale. They believed in “eventually”. And they stayed a little more patient. They took the stairs.

Until next time,

David

P.S. Check out this amazing ski run (and video)

P.P.S. Not sure what I think about these AI generated photos of historical figures

P.P.P.S. Very surprised to see Turnstile (new-ish era of D.C. hardcore) perform at The Tiny Desk.