The Difference Between 99 and 100 is Night and Day
I was working the other night and I leaned back, read over what I wrote, and I thought to myself “well, that’s good enough”. And then I read it again and thought “well, is it really?” Should I settle for good enough?
A few months back I was lucky enough to see the total eclipse. Here in Toronto the eclipse was 70% - i.e. 70% of the sun gets blocked by the moon. Interesting for sure. But my father, who has now seen 5 eclipses, told me to do what it takes to see the total eclipse. I was skeptical, but sometimes you have to listen to your dad.
1300 flat boring kilometres stood between me and the closest point on the line of “Totality”. Predictions of gridlock on highways in the area were dire. But I booked the closest room possible, put extra rations of water and food in the car, and headed southwest.
I found the perfect spot by a lake right on the eclipse line and got there hours early. By the time the eclipse started, there were about 20 people nearby. We all carefully watched through welder’s glass as a bite sized chunk of sun was eaten by the moon. At about 70% the excitement started as the light began to change. It was pretty cool, and what I would have experienced at home.
But then the rules of daytime began to break. The temperature started to drop. Daylight dimmed but things started to look sharper. At 95% percent, everyone was excited and yelling out something to notice – “Look at the sky” “Look at the lake” “I can see stars”. At 99% - the classic image of a point of light instead of the sun. And then, with one cosmic click, the lights went out. Suddenly it was nighttime. The difference between 99% and 100% was the difference between night and day.
Seriously, it was awesome. More amazing than I would have believed and worth every minute of the time spent in the world’s largest traffic jam afterward. I would have found 70% in Toronto interesting, but with some effort I was able to experience a 100% total eclipse.
All of this to say that while sometimes good enough is enough, sometimes it might be worth reaching for that extra percent. Think about your current projects – at work, at home, things with the family – and consider what you could get if you spent that extra effort.
The difference in rewards could be night and day.
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Paul is a professional speaker and writer with an odd background of corporate work, arts management, training in adult ed. and counselling, singing in the opera, and acting. He creates and delivers very funny keynotes, including the one-of-a-kind keynote "The Ultimate Ending / Paul's World Famous Conference Ending Summary".
Paul Huschilt's Expect Everything is the more-or-less bi-weekly newsletter of his musings, commentary, ideas, videos, and fun and interesting things. If you've received this from a friend, be sure to thank them, then click here to sign-up for your own copy.
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