Hara hachi bun me (腹八分目)

Eat until you’re 80% full

The Japanese are wise people and this is their secret to a long life.

Like I think everyone, I have experienced times with incredible amount of energy, kind of an eagerness to get things done, an abundance of ideas, inspiration and drive to action. After days full of boxes being checked and progress made on various fronts, I still felt like I could keep going.

It’s amazing right?

Yes.

And no.

At least for me. Lately I feel like my mind has been opening up to new ideas and it’s been on its own rollercoaster telling me “why don’t you think about doing this? and that? and what about that other cool thing you’ve always wanted to do?” It is all really great, and I am grateful for not being at a loss of ideas about how to best use my time. And what’s beautiful is that I truly love all that is coming to mind and it aligns to my mission on supporting and empowering other women.

It is pretty common sense that you shouldn’t eat more than you can chew. And doing too many things dilute not only your efforts, energy and time, but also quality of results.

These two contrasting thoughts have been eating me for a while: do these many things that are all exciting VS what do I really want to fully commit to to drive meaningful impact?

Then I remembered: 80%.

Yes it’s about food, and I love food. But I find it a good practice in life as well. Especially for aspects where you could easily go over board and probably shouldn’t. Like working on my projects, for me. Yes, I love all of them, and they all are part of my passion and fit my personal mission. And I love this. I also have this image in mind of the entrepreneur that works days and nights non stop and crashes into sleep randomly on their desk... it’s quite romantic if you ask me. But not always necessary, and not always realistic or sustainable. So, I’m giving myself permission to stop at 80%. And leave some energy for other aspects of life, whether that is to go out, see friends or take a bath and enjoy it while watching a movie.

So do I give up on the rest? I don’t think I’m ready to let go of any of those other things I want to do, but rather find a way to mix passion and rationality in my journey to 80%. What is the most impactful action (for me or for others) that I can take right now? How does the rest stack and phase after that? What are small no-regret other things I can strategically combine to give myself a sense of forward motion, like a small pilot or reading a book?

Do you find yourself in a similar situation of having to pace yourself? How do you do it? How do you decide your priorities and your path forward? Please share in the comments!