What Happens When We Stop Half-Assing

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getting back into my workout routine after birthing a human has taken some time. a few years ago, i realized that while working out helped to keep my body in shape, it more importantly helped my mental health. i knew i wanted to get back at it after a baby (because i’d really love for my jeans to fit again) and to help with my postpartum depression.

i have been working out fairly consistently over the past month and half. i typically start out strong but then fade out towards the end of my workouts or get easily distracted. sometimes sugar will come downstairs and conveniently lay down right next to my workout zone. when this happens, i have no choice but to stop my workout and lay down with her and ignore my 80’s 8-minute ab video to pet her while it plays on. when i’m on my jogs, i hear a text come in and i stop to respond.

during a workout a few weeks ago, as i was scrolling through instagram after responding to a text during my walk/run, i was hit with an epiphany.

i thought to myself, “if i half-ass my workouts, it’s going to take me TWICE as long to achieve results!”

then i started thinking about what else i half-ass. i half-ass the potential of this blog (until 3 weeks ago when i invested in a business program to help me ‘full-ass’ this space). i half-ass my own potential of what i’m capable of in my professional life.

this realization was disappointing but also oddly energizing. it sort of reminded me of when i get a tattoo and i’m like “damn, that hurts but at the same time adrenalineeeeeee! let’s get another one!”

what if we started going all in on things? how would the results differ? how much faster and smarter could we achieve our goals?

inspirational quote

i made a conscious choice to start this during my workouts. it has made a huge difference already! when i thought about having to do twice the amount of crunches because i wasn’t giving them my all, it made my face scowl. no thank you. my workout time is already preciously slotted when my daughter is napping or my husband is home to take her so i really don’t feel like waiting around for results when i am capable of more.

when we half-ass in our lives, we are missing out on the whole result of what is possible.

continuing with the workout example – how much more could i achieve if i stopped halving my effort? i have no idea because i haven’t been.

of course there’s the fear saying “well i went all in and didn’t achieve as much as i thought i could” (this plays over and over in my head). however, i am in the midst of realizing that’s a cheap excuse. if we truly go all in and no more half-ass effort, then we will inevitably succeed because going all in means we don’t stop until we achieve what we are after.

have you found this to be true in certain areas of your life?

i am going to start putting my whole self in (you are not alone if you thought of the hokey-pokey after reading that) when it comes to effort. we capable of amazing things and we are doing a disservice to ourselves, our families, our community and the world by not going all in so start today and commit to using your whole self!

18 Comments

  1. Elyse @ Just Murrayed

    March 22, 2017 at 6:48 am

    My husband and I had an epiphany on the night of our wedding(haha…uhhh..there has to be a better way to word that?) that this was the real deal. Not that we weren’t commited to each other before BUT that this is forever and that we have to put 100% of our effort into it because we signed up for a LONG time. It’s been amazing for our relationship. That change of thinking sort of accidentally spilled out into other areas of my life because I had already changed my thinking about a huge part of myself which was my husband. So, it spilled out into work, which allowed me to get a promotion not even a year after working at my company.
    Elyse @ Just Murrayed recently posted…February Confessions

    • chelsea

      April 1, 2017 at 11:15 am

      i totally love that you had that conversation on your wedding nigh, elyse! you are right – we are also in it for the long haul so our 100% effort always needs to be put in.

      congratulations on your promotion too! what a great concept to “spill” over to other areas! you are rockin’ it lady!

  2. Claire

    March 22, 2017 at 7:29 am

    I LOVE this post!

    Thanks Chelsea 🙂

    As I read this, it makes me think that I half-ass in quite alot of areas lol…My thinking has been “well, I might ‘not put as much in as I’m able’ but in doing so I can have MORE”…such as ‘more’: school, extra curricular, friend time, date time, family time etc.

    This is a great reminder to step back. And put your whole effort in. And don’t cram too much in one week, one day, month etc.

    Gracias!!

    • chelsea

      April 1, 2017 at 11:17 am

      YAY! so glad this post resonated with you, claire 🙂

      thanks so much for sharing your thoughts – i totally get what you’re saying about if you put in more. thanks for the reminder not to cram too much into a day either. sometimes i do that and then feel unsuccessful but in reality i overestimated how much i could get done. thanks for that!

  3. Audrey

    March 22, 2017 at 8:09 am

    I accused K of half-assing something last night and he said, “Yeah, but I am whole-assing the half-assing.” He’s such a con artist.
    In all seriousness, this makes total sense. Sometimes I’m doing multiple things (dishes, making dinner, cleaning out a cabinet, and sorting mail) and I realize that I’m going SO slowly and getting nothing all the way done because I’m not putting my full effort into them! Putting dishes away while I cook is simple enough, but I’m not getting another done when I add cabinet organization to the list, haha!
    Audrey recently posted…You May All Go to Hell & I Will Go To Texas

    • chelsea

      April 1, 2017 at 11:18 am

      bhaha oh that sneaky husband!
      oh my goooodness your examples totally resonate with me! ravery is always like “why does it take you so long to get something done when it takes me like half time” and it’s TOTALLY because i get distracted by trying to do 10 things at once!

  4. Penny

    March 22, 2017 at 10:11 am

    great topic. i think i half ass a lot but never really gave it much thought. sometimes i am aware of it and just don’t care and other times i am not aware of it but should be. great topic. thanks.

    • chelsea

      April 1, 2017 at 11:21 am

      thanks penny for reading and your comment! i think it’s important that we notice and become aware with so many things in our life. i’m guilty of that too!
      chelsea recently posted…9 Weird Facts About Newborns

  5. jenniferhastonsays

    March 22, 2017 at 10:49 am

    Yes!!! Way to go, Chelsea! I think it’s a great point to go “all in”- Scary, AND worth it! Bonus- Lesson to Atlas!!

    • chelsea

      April 1, 2017 at 11:22 am

      right you are, jennifer! scary AND worth it! i like that 🙂

  6. chelsea jacobs

    March 22, 2017 at 11:17 am

    THIS IS EXACTLY WHERE I’M AT TODAY. It can be suuuuper disheartening to realize all the areas you’re not living out your full potential, but also super motivating. Let’s DO THIS.

    • chelsea

      April 1, 2017 at 11:24 am

      we GOT THIS! it can be disheartening but also great when we get passed that and realize – we can change. we aren’t trees 🙂

  7. Sheila

    March 23, 2017 at 8:53 am

    Thanks for the nudge, Chelsea. It’s so easy to get distracted from our goals. Love the description of your interaction with Sugar while the ab video plays on! I like putting my whole self in to see projects through to completion. Balance seems to come with seasons rather than daily. I think that might be partly due to the influence of my parents’ farmer and fisherman lifestyles when I was growing up. Created a work hard, play hard attitude. Not to say that I don’t half-ass anything, because I most certainly do!

    • chelsea

      April 1, 2017 at 11:31 am

      oh super interesting to hear about ‘balance’ influence on you from your parents’ farmer and fisherman days. that’s really interesting. you certainly didn’t half-ass that book of yours! yay!

  8. Marilyn Jess

    March 27, 2017 at 10:40 am

    Chelsea, This is a profound topic. It can range from a relationship, to a career, a commitment to a cause, or pretty much anything you decide is worth your precious time. I consciously chose to go “all in” for my marriage. I had grown up in an unhappy home, and wanted a career, too. It was a matter of priorities for me. I realized early that children were not the best choice for me, and committing to my husband and my career was. Unlike many in my generation, I did not try to have it all, as we were encouraged to do. After 40 plus mostly happy years, and a career I enjoyed, it was truly worth it. Choosing what’s truly right for you is not easy. You will be pressured from all sides to conform. Going all in takes courage and the ability to say No, and Yes.

    • chelsea

      April 1, 2017 at 11:34 am

      you are so right marilyn – this concept can creep into all areas of our lives. thank you for sharing about your family past, marilyn and why it was so very important to ‘go all in’ for your marriage. obviously it has paid off and continues to do so. i truly admire you to make that decision about not having children, especially back then. good for you – thank you for helping to pave the way to remind us/me that we don’t need to ‘have it all’ because that looks different for everyone.

  9. Laura

    March 31, 2017 at 11:14 am

    This is so true. I needed to read this today!

    • chelsea

      April 1, 2017 at 11:32 am

      i am so glad it was what you needed, laura 🙂