People are always being told to do their best. It sounds like they must give their 100 percent, even more than 100 percent, to their work. However, according to an expert, when it comes to daily jobs like studying or working, people can't always give 100 percent.
“People can go to the best university and get the best job by making 100 or 120 percent effort. However, if they must keep using 100 percent of their ability to maintain it, how hard and unhappy will they be, and how much more likely will they fail.”
Professor Namgung Ki of the Department of Psychiatry at Severance Hospital said so in the YouTube channel “I am a Doctor” by The Korean Doctors Weekly, a sister paper of Korea Biomedical Review.
"'Do your best' should not be mistaken for everything you can squeeze out of yourself," Professor Namgung said, "I think it's about integrity over a long period. If you can consistently go at 80 percent of your ability, that's your best. I don't think doing your best means you must explosively use 100 percent of energy.”
So how should people live best, and how can they do well in this life without compromising their mental health?
"If I set a goal and then realize that I need to keep working 120 percent to achieve it, I revise the goal. And I prepare for it not to happen,” Namgung said. "I try to think it’s OK because I used only 80 percent of my effort. I think it’s natural that I failed because I only used 80 percent when the goal needed 120 percent of my effort.”
Professor Namgung went on to say, "I find that patients, especially younger people, come to me with a lot of guilt and a sense of loss that they're not doing their 'best.’”
"They're doing a good job in my eyes, but it's not cross-checked, so I ‘tuned’ them by saying, ‘You have already done your best. Had you done any more than that, your engine might have blown up.’”
So, what happens when you take the phrase "do your best" at face value, meaning "give 100% of your ability"?
"In the U.S. Ivy League schools, there are quite a few Korean students compared to the population. However, I heard that 50 percent of them drop out," he said, adding that this happens because if you use 120 percent of your ability to get into Harvard University, you have to use 120 percent of your resources to maintain that status.
He also compared it to driving a car.
"A car has a top speed of 220 kilometers, but if you keep going at 220 kilometers, the engine will explode. It means that the instantaneous speed is 220 kilometers, not that you should keep going at 220 kilometers," he said. "Just as a car is ruined if you go at full speed, people have accidents. The top speed is there to create space, not to use it."
Professor Namgung went on to say, "Doing your best means using 80 percent, not 100-120 percent, of your resources. The latter is overloading.”
He emphasized that goals and doing your best must go together.
"The concept of a goal and doing your best must go hand in hand,” the Severance professor said. “If you set a goal you can achieve with 80 percent of your effort, you'll be happy. If your original goal were 100 percent, you'll feel accomplished when you get it down to 80 percent, and that's very good for your mental health.