GIVE EVERYTHING ALL OF THE TIME? NOT SO FAST

“Give everything when you give all you’ve got.’

If you’ve heard this before, then you played high school football in the time before good sense.

That particular time also had this: “Stick your head in there. That’s why you wear a helmet.”

And this: “Only sissies drink water during practice. Are you thirsty, son?”

And that’s the problem with following ‘olde’ advice. Go back further and the idea of “Give everything you’ve got,” usually meant your life. A proud pat on the back, a strong whistle blow, and over the top you go.

We’re not doing that, but we still give everything we’ve got? Depends on who you ask.

Problems start not with the effort of giving. Anyone who’s chopped a pile of wood, swam the Willamette, or built a set of stairs, knows about effort.

If you don’t know one, now you do.

They know about finishing, too

But that’s not the problem. The biggie, the biggest problem of giving everything, the enemy of giving your best, is giving just enough.

It’s you mixing mud and carrying cement blocks for the brick laying crew while your co-worker grunt is on his early break, his break, his late morning break, his lunch break, his early late break, late break, late late break, and his last break just before the end of the work day break.

Two people doing the same work for the same pay where one gives everything while the other coasts.

The difference is, he’s the boss’s neighbor and you’re not. When he quits, you ask for a raise, get denied, then give notice.

The boss on the raise: “Why would we do that? You’re doing fine, a little slow, but you’re learning.”

Lead mason after you gave notice: “I’ll talk to the boss about the raise. We don’t want you to go. We’ve never had anyone so durable, so reliable day after day. You push us to be better.”

Giving More Than Needed

Somewhere along the learning curve we discovered when to give everything, and when to give enough.

Talk cars to the car guys, beer to the beer guys, or face the consequences.

Talk sports to the sports guys, marriage to the marriage guys, and don’t get them mixed up.

And know your audience. An Eagles fan doesn’t want to hear Cowboy talk, unless it’s about a Cowboy who got injured or quit or traded.

Married seven times guy doesn’t want newly wed guy explaining the joys of matrimony.

Go all in on any of them and expect some backlash, maybe lots of backlash with more on the lash part.

Life is more than doing something 100%, while not liking what you’re doing, and 100% not caring.

Try And Do Better, Like This:

Assess a task.

How long will it take? What tools are needed? Do you know, or can you learn, how to do it?

For example, let’s say we’re in the midst of a covid19 pandemic with a climbing death rate.

But, no one you know has died so why bother. Then someone tells you about someone who knew someone who caught covid and got over it, so no big deal.

The virus has mutated into a more aggressive stage, blah, blah, blah. Wear a mask? Not you. Why?

Because you know the truths, and feel it’s your patriotic duty to expound on those truths, true or not.

The whole medical fiasco reminds you of the great home loans offered in 2007, the loans now called predatory. But back then it was free money, right up until you lost your house.

And it wasn’t your fault, except you signed the subprime mortgage papers and spent the cash. Then you went on television with others in matching shirts and said, “It’s not my fault.”

Fast forward to today. If you’re a mask denying covid hoax party member, and catch it and die, you’ll leave sadness in your wake. How do you want to be remembered?

“He died of a hoax because he refused to wear a mask.”

“He died after spreading covid19 to everyone he knew, and they started dying after he died.”

“He died of natural causes after attending super spreader events, storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and crying like a little bitch when the law came and took him away.”

Caring People Give Everything

People talk, and the talk can get rough. What happens when someone you know brings up the highlights of a sketchy past that wasn’t that sketchy unless they have little to compare?

When the talk starts sounding like a repeat of Fox News, pizza parlors, the big lie, the big steal, the big bullshit slung everywhere and now it’s aimed at you, what do you do?

Here’s what not to do: don’t engage, and if you do, get out fast.

People looking for targets to rage on have impaired vision, but their ears work fine. They hear buzz words to repeat, then parrot them at the unsuspecting.

It’s not personal. Know that it’s not personal. It’s someone stuck in a hole shouting for help. But since they’ve never needed help from anyone ever their whole life because they’re a man who knows men do it all by themselves and disparage everyone else, it doesn’t sound like a cry for help.

If you engage, they rage. If you ignore, they question your soul, because it must be dark. If they make a request, they expect you to snap to it because of their authority.

Care about them in their time of need, tell them you care about them. They won’t understand, but tell them anyway.

Pulling through hard time takes the sort of strength in short supply, but keep pulling. Give everything to an effort that includes everyone.

Wear a mask, wash hands, social distant.

Get vaccinated. Don’t forget to get vaccinated.