THIS IS ONE BOOK YOU SHOULD READ AT ANY COST

It was July 18, 1995, my Dad gifted me this book called — The 110% Solution.

I speed-read this book at that time but understood the true meaning and application of it as I kept reading and analyzing it throughout my personal and professional journey.

Let me take a moment and pen down my views, learnings, and thoughts on this book but before that…

First, about the author.

There are very few people who know more about success than Mark McCormack. He is the author of the best-seller - What they don’t teach you at Harvard Business School.

Mark has been hailed by Sports Illustrated as the “most powerful man in sports,” McCormack personifies the American ideal of maximizing your time, talent, and ideas.

In 1968, he broke into the tennis world just as the Open Era was ascending on the game and signed Grand Slam champion Rod Laver. Under McCormack, he continued to attract tennis’s biggest stars, signing Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Björn Borg, Pete Sampras, and Monica Seles.

What is so special about this book and my learnings.

I have had many occasions of lapses in attention, energy troughs, and moments of fatigue and I found myself not performing at my top level. Though I realized this during my journey but always gave me a consolation that this is a part and parcel of any human being.

But that does not mean we should routinely accept less than optimal effort from ourselves.

I got some things from this book that helped me achieve above my normal. I’ve been able to understand other nuances of achieving better performance with myself.

I consider this book as the most inspiring book ever as Mark McCormack reveals all the secrets of his success — how to use good old American know-how to achieve peak concentration and peak self-esteem, and the exhilaration of experiencing 110 percent effort.

The 110% Philosophy Explained.

The theory behind THE 110% SOLUTION is fairly simple:

Human beings feel their best when they are doing their best. And to do one’s best, it is no longer good enough to strive for 50 percent or 75 percent.

There are no painless shortcuts, not in the perilous nineties. To achieve success-both professionally and personally-we must all strive to reach 110% of our ability.

As Mark rightly mentions at the start of his book…

Human beings feel their best when they are doing their best. With peak effort, comes peak self-esteem. With peak concentration comes peak confidence and with total involvement comes a sense of exaltation.

Mark McCormack starts right at the beginning, explaining how to find your true talent.

“Before you can become a great salesperson, you have to make your first sale. Before the first sale, you have to decide if you like selling.”

In this area, McCormack’s advice is a help not only to the highest-level businessperson but to the housewife who’s home all day and to the taxi driver who’s looking to increase his number of fares.

He teaches how to digest information (and how to reject it), how to make the most of your stamina, how to increase your efficiency, even how to confront the things you hate to do — and get them done.

1. Mark mentions that we should be constantly aware of the differences between 50% and 75% and 110% effort.
2. 50% effort is when you leave the rest of the effort on luck or lack of planning or your assumptions. Definitely not a good scenario.
3. 75% effort is a step further and you think you have planned but not enough to reach the end goal. This is better than our 50% effort but not enough to reach a positive outcome.

A 110% solution is very similar to being an extraordinary solution and that is the difference between 100% and 110%.

That extra 10% of planning — that extra 10% of making sure that all the ducts are in place and that extra 10% that all or majority of the constraints have been taken care of with a proper implementation plan and defining a roadmap. This extra 10% makes a person extraordinary from ordinary.

This book teaches us how to do better than best — in business and in life. This book charts the creative path to achievement, telling readers how to manage themselves and others and how to be successful. The author offers suggestions on how to choose life goals and how to negotiate to win — regardless of age, sex, or circumstances.

Final Thoughts.

This book is tailor-made for all professionals and high-achievers but, this creates a great impact on individuals who are trying to make an effort to streamline their day-to-day life, get focused, and get to optimal levels of productivity.

McCormack’s book is peppered with testimonials from top sports professionals. It is obvious from their stories that they give 110 percent to the achievement of their goals. It is also clear that most of them suffer from some kind of obsessive neurosis. They are sports nerds, with nothing in their life as important as winning the next competition.

Do check this book out and I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.