Carrying the World on Your Back

The Myth of Giving 100%

Sometimes we feel like we are carrying the world on our back. We have demands from work, from loved ones, and from our own long-forgotten needs, all screaming for attention. Whether it’s a late-night email from the boss, a child demanding focus, or the guilt of yet another unfinished passion project in the graveyard of hobbies, our Zebra brains can feel as if everything is urgent AND important. We believe we should be giving 100% to everything, but we can’t give it to anything.

Intended as motivation, the idea of “giving it 100%” becomes a trap, a non-stop path to potential burnout. Our tendency towards literal thinking can convince us that we must give 100% to one task, no matter the context. All our energy. All our focus. All our time.

When I was a kid, I’d bring home an exam and proudly show it to my dad.

“Look, I got 98%.”

“Where did the other 2% go?”

A harmless joke, maybe. But that feeling landed. Working through those emotions takes time. The drive to push for that extra 2%, regardless of benefit or the cost to ourselves, is draining.

100% does not mean draining your batteries completely. It means 100% of what you have available to give, and that is in your control. That 100% has to be divided across your responsibilities, wants, and needs.

Sometimes giving less feels like a moral failure. Flawless, perfect execution becomes the goal, and we do not stop to ask:

What is enough?

When we can’t give perfection to every area of life, we feel frustrated and want to give up. The pressure builds until it feels like the entire world rests on our shoulders. It’s unsustainable. And it’s a deeply inaccurate limiting belief.

Imagine a game of Sim City. In the first five minutes, you decide to build everything: residential zones, schools, hospitals, factories, an airport. You spend every last penny in the opening minutes because you want to get it right from the start. You have a vision and want it to be perfect. But then the tornado hits. A fire breaks out. You’re out of money. You can’t repair anything. The city stalls.

When we try to give everything to one domain, work, family, the startup idea, or the new workout regime, there is nothing left for anything else. Energy is a finite resource. We do not have endless time. Everything has its cost. 100% given to one thing means 0% left for the rest.

Even in the workplace, doing your ‘best’ has context. What you can do first thing in the morning after a poor night’s sleep and wrangling an unwilling child into school is different to what you do when you’re energised by a new idea.

Your best on a tough day will look different from your best on a good one. In times of burnout,, even getting up, brushing your teeth, and getting dressed is your best. We are context-sensitive creatures.

When we internalise impossible standards and carry the weight of the world on our backs, we become brittle. And we break. But when we recognise how to divide our energy and what giving 100% really means, we become strong and flexible, like bamboo.

So how can we redefine 100%? Not as the unattainable sum of everything you could be in an ideal world, but as the full measure of what you genuinely have to give, across all parts of your life. Work is one. Family, self-care, relationships, and your passions all need their share.

Focus on your priorities. Leave space for the coming storm. And move forward knowing you are a normal zebra, and you are doing your best.

If this resonates, share it with someone else carrying more than their share of the load. Let them know they aren’t alone. What would change if your 100% was allowed to shift with your context? I’d love to know what this brings up for you.