The Final 20%

I dropped my girls off in Sin City today. The southeast version, the heart of Myrtle Beach. It was for a Young Life camp.

Please God watch over them all.

I took the route that I always take and the same thing happens every time. Way, way down Highway 74 I begin to worry that I’ve missed my exit. I pay close attention, but maybe I got distracted for a split second. And I’m never good at remembering landmarks. So I get anxious and for the next 30 minutes I internally debate turning around. I look for openings in the median.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m directionally challenged and because I’ve taken this path a 100 times I don’t employ my GPS.

Then finally I see my exit sign. I exhale. And I can enjoy the drive again. I turn Jack Johnson back on.

The point to this story (and you knew one was coming) is that I kept expecting a result (my exit) that came much later than I anticipated.

Many journeys in our lives are the same way.

The diet plan doesn’t work fast enough. The debt doesn’t get cleared soon enough. The job promotion doesn’t come as quick as we think we deserve it.

And we get anxious. Worried. Discouraged.

We consider quitting. Turning back.

But I’ve read before that we often don’t see significant results on a project until the final 20% of our efforts have been expended. In other words, 80% of our work goes unnoticed.

If we have faith in the process of our project we need to have the confidence to persevere when the results are not yet evident.

Remember how a penny doubles every day for 30 days? The big payoff comes in the last couple of days.

Keep driving. You will see and enjoy the results. You are on the right road.

And you didn’t miss the exit.