Episode 49: What If Your 70% Is Everyone Else’s 100%?
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This is your permission slip to do a little less. If you’ve ever felt like you're giving everything you have—and then some—it's time to explore a radical but freeing idea: What if your 70% effort is the equivalent of everyone else’s 100%?
In this episode we're exploring what it means to show up, deliver, and lead as a high-achieving woman—especially when you’re balancing work and motherhood. It isn’t about lowering your standards or being out of integrity; it’s about recognizing your value, impact, and capacity, even when you're not operating at full throttle.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
A new way to think about effort vs. impact
A practical mindset shift that could help you reclaim time and energy
Validation that you are already doing enough—and more
If you're craving a healthier work-life balance and a career that supports your life (not the other way around), press play.
links & resources mentioned in this episode:
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You are listening to the Life Coach for Working Moms podcast, the show where we are talking about what it actually takes to make life work as a working mom. I'm your host, Katelyn Denning, a full time working mom of three and a certified life and executive coach. I'm so glad you're here and I hope you enjoy this week's episode.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the podcast. I am ready to get right into this one today because I'm coming in a little bit hot for many reasons, but I want to ask you a question.
I wanna ask you a question, and I want you to let it really sink in for a minute. So I'm gonna pause as you take in the question and really allow yourself to consider the possibility in your answer. Here it is. What if your. 70% was everyone else's. A hundred percent. What if you working, giving, delivering at 70% of your capacity was equivalent to everyone is 100%.
What if that was true? What if that were true? And you are hustling more, giving more, doing more than others. I wanna talk about this today, though, in all seriousness, because I see so many women killing themselves to get more done, bending over backwards to meet deadlines or to meet others' expectations.
Doing more at work, at home, in their relationships for their family. And they're doing more on top of everything else that they carry. It's no wonder burnout rates are what they are today. It's no wonder I. And so for your health, for your happiness, or for your enjoyment of your work, of your life, I want you to listen in today and be open to this idea.
Be open to this concept, be open to the possibility that this could be true. I'd love for you to allow me to just plant a seed to see if there's something here that you might take away from this, that might grow for you, that might resonate with you.
Now one thing that comes up, especially because I coach high achieving women, I coach women who are great. They are amazing at what they do. They can work circles around other people and they show up to their lives in very similar ways. And so I am not talking about being out of integrity with the quality of your work.
I think that's a question that comes up for many people when I. Offer this idea that, you know, your 70% , is equivalent to others. 100%. I am not talking about not delivering or not doing work that you are proud of. I would not ask that of you. I have those same standards. I have a value of, of integrity, of high quality work.
If you like, my clients are hardworking, intelligent, resourceful, resilient, and creative, just to name a few attributes. You get the job done. Always, I am not worried about you not getting the job done, and if you can't get the job done because something has come up or circumstances beyond your control, you create a plan for how it will get done or who you can delegate it to, or how you can ask for help.
And so I would guess that you likely work circles around everyone in your vicinity, that your a hundred percent effort is equivalent to others, 60 or 70 or 75% effort. And maybe you're skeptical, you are maybe looking around at work, thinking of your colleagues, thinking of your peers, thinking of your friends, thinking of other working moms that you know, you're comparing yourself to , what they do, how much they accomplish, how much they work.
Comparison makes so much sense. We all do it. It is one of the tools that we have. To help us set benchmarks to help you determine if you're doing enough. Is someone else working more, doing more? Are they putting in more hours? How much do you have to do to be, quote unquote, on par with those around you?
But what comparison doesn't always consider is that it's not just about time. You've heard me say this before, but in this case, it's not just about time, how much you work as compared with others. How many trips your colleagues take to get out on the road and see clients or do their sales or, it's not even about how much you do, how many projects you manage, or patients you care for, or the people that you manage. It's about the results that you create. It's about the value that you bring to your role, to your work. It's about the impact that those results and that value creates.
The experience that you've accumulated in your career, in your lived experience, in your life, that impacts what you create and how you work. And so. I would argue or offer that as a mom on top of what you do professionally, what you now manage outside of work only makes your impact, your leadership and your skills that much more valuable.
So. Let's say you're on board, you're like, okay, I can see how, yes, I do bring a lot of value to my workplace, to my role, to my organization, to my household. I do bring a lot of value. I do make an impact. So, alright, maybe I can see how my a hundred percent is equivalent to someone else's. 75%. What? What does that mean practically?
Well, it could mean for starters that you could pull back a little bit if you needed to or if you wanted to. I know. I know you could do that just a little bit and there will likely be no significant impact. In fact, what I see happen so often is that it. Mostly goes unnoticed. At least that's been my experience because even pulling back five or 10% in terms of your effort, the time you're putting in means that you are still producing more value than most, which begs the question, just because we can give a hundred percent does it mean that we have to or that we should.
Or maybe the question that you want to think about is, does it mean that we have to or that we should all the time? Because there will always be, because there will be seasons or projects or deadlines that require you to go all in. I know you've experienced those. I still experience those where you have to work extra or overtime because it's important to you, to your work, to your career, to your job security.
But then after that season has passed, the project gets completed, the deadline gets met. You could pull back and not feel bad about it.
You don't have to feel guilty for doing less sometimes or in some seasons because is it really less?
I feel very strongly that one of the ways I was able to create better work life balance for myself, especially in my corporate career when I had three young children, was by reminding myself of this very thing over and over again. I would tell myself my 70% is everyone else's, a hundred percent.
That acknowledgement gave me permission to just breathe a little bit. My shoulders dropped, just thinking it. Now, my jaw and clenches, my 70% is someone else's a hundred percent, and I can slow down just a little bit. I can stop hustling so hard all the time. Then I started to look for proof and examples that my brain, my experience, my skills were working for me all the time.
Just having me in that meeting was valuable. I. Just my quick draft of that presentation made an impact, which meant that my work didn't have to be so effortful, it didn't have to take so much time. That acknowledgement, that reminder helped boost my confidence as well to show up at work like an expert.
When I believe that my brain, my ideas, my experience, just having me there brings value that really does something for your confidence. I saw myself or started to see myself as someone who has great ideas and knows what she's doing without needing to burn myself out or work so hard and so much to prove it to everyone else.
So I want to ask, what if you believed that too? I want you to think right now what percentage feels true for you? Maybe 70 or 75%, which feels true for me. Feels a bit like a stretch for you. Is it 90% what percentage of effort from you is the equivalent to everyone else's? A hundred percent. Or if you flip it, it would also be true that at your current pace, at your current effort, you are giving what?
110%, 130% sink into that thought. Take on and practice that belief. If you do. Would you be able to slow down just a little knowing that you are still creating value and doing amazing work? Would you be able to relax If you're in a season that's busy outside of work, knowing that the results you create, the value you bring is still there, even if you're not pushing and hustling all the time.
And if you relaxed just a little, maybe work would feel better and more sustainable. Maybe you'd enjoy it a little bit more or enjoy your life outside of work a little bit more because you would have more energy left over at the end of the day. To put toward the people, the passions, the, I don't know, whatever you have going on that you enjoy outside of work.
Belief shifts like this one. Which can sound so small, but have such a huge impact on our perspective, on how we see ourselves and how we actually show up and use the time that we have.
This is the type of work that we do in one-on-one coaching. You've already done the hard part of acquiring the skills, the experience, and the knowledge. I'm just here to remind you of what's important, and to also lovingly remind you that putting in more hours and effort isn't the only way to create a great and meaningful career and life.
You can learn more about coaching and apply to work together by going to themothernurture.com/application. Let's create a career you're proud of, but one that doesn't burn you out and leaves you time and energy for your life and family outside of office hours. Again, head to themothernurture.com/application to learn more.
And as always, you can find everything related to the podcast over in the show notes at themothernurture.com/podcast. I'm so grateful that you tune in each week and listen. , please subscribe if you haven't already, and if you enjoyed this episode or think that one of your working mom colleagues or friends needs to hear it and consider.
The idea that your 70% is everyone else's 100%, please send it to them. I would be so grateful. All right, I will talk with you in the next episode. Until then, take care.
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