100% Is Easier
Some people I follow online create so much great stuff that I wonder how they do it. Do they not sleep?
One possible answer is that these super creators have freakish amounts of willpower. While normal people get distracted checking sports scores and social media, maybe these highly productive people fight the distractions and push themselves to focus.
Except that's not what the science says.
Studies have found that successful people do not have different levels of willpower compared to us mere mortals. Rather, they tend to be better about creating working environments where they avoid distraction in the first place.
In Willpower, Roy Baumeister and John Tierney describe how people with strong self-control actually spend less time resisting desires.
The key difference is that they use their limited willpower to create situations where they are more likely to succeed. Then, when they work, it's like they have the wind at their back.
I am pretty terrible at doing things “more often” or sticking to commitments “some of the time.” This quickly becomes none of the time. As the saying goes, “someday” is not a day of the week.
If we're struggling to commit to something, the answer might be to do it daily. 100% can be easier than 50%.