Inches. “Inches make a champion” – Vince Lombardi
At 211 degrees, the water is hot. At 212 degrees, it boils.
And with boiling water comes steam. And with steam, you can power a train.
Applying one extra degree of temperature to water means the difference between something that is simply very hot vs. something that generates enough force to power a machine.
212 is not only a message of action, it’s a message of persistent, focused action – the continual application of heat (effort) to whatever goal you undertake in order to achieve, not only the primary objective you seek but to reap the exponential rewards that are possible by applying one extra degree of effort.
‘212: The extra degree’ by S.L. Parker provides enlightening examples for reflection.
Golf
Masters US Open British Open PGA
Margin of Victory in Strokes 2.4 2.5 2.5 2.4
1st Place Prize $1.018M $0.981M $1.037M $1.006M
2nd Place Prize $0.611M $0.566M $0.539M $0.578M
Additional Prize for 1st Place 67% 73% 92% 74%
Horse Race
Kentucky Derby Preakness Belmont Stakes
Margin of Victory in Lengths 2.2 2.1 2.9
1st Place Prize $0.957M $0.950M $0.600M
2nd Place Prize $0.170M $0.200M $0.200M
Additional Prize for 1st Place 463% 225% 200%
Auto Race
Daytona 500 Indianapolis 500
Margin of Victory 0.241 2.84
1st Place Prize $1.120M $1.437M
2nd Place Prize $0.668M $0.574M
Additional Prize for 1st Place 68% 150%
As a spouse … Allow your partner to have the last word in two “discussions” each week where you’d typically dig in your heels, and add not only 100 events of kindness to your year but probably an additional ten years to both of your lives.
At work … Make the extra contact each day – be it a sales call, a customer engagement, a brief with a colleague, a word of encouragement to your team, etc. With contact comes opportunity. At the end of the year, you’ll have opened more than 200 additional doors of possibilities!
“Many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison