100% Effort

Have you ever wondered that sometimes it does take 100% effort to achieve something -- 70% or 80% would not do. For example, if you are dieting and want to reduce your weight in a given time frame, it is not possible to say "I will diet 5 days in a week and indulge myself the other two days" and still expect to achieve the desired outcome. You might be tempted to say "After all I have kept my deal 70% of the time". No, it does not work that way. Dieting 5 days would certainly help as compared to not dieting at all, but the difference between dieting all 7 days and 5 days is too wide. The pay off drop between a 100% effort and a 70% effort is not linear, rather exponential.

This phenomenon is even more interesting when applied to the moral and ethical fronts. For example, can you say I would be honest 80% of the times? I would be truthful to myself and others 75% of the time? Is such a line of thought possible? Can person's character be evaluated by some averaging technique? I am inclined to say to no, but then I also realize that there can be no "Lakshman Rekha" on such matters. But I do realize that a truly great person of character will do the right things 100% of the time. Mahatma Gandhi is revered as much for this ability as much for his leadership skills. He did not do the right things (right things as per his own judgment) almost every time, but he did it every time. That is probably the difference between a good and a great person.

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