When Does Going That Extra Mile Really Just Waste Your Time? Tips For Baby Boomers and Seniors

Real people including baby boomers and seniors returning to work make a concerted effort to succeed.

Knowingly or unknowingly, when going that extra mile, you may begin to wonder if it is just a waste of your time. You have certain motivation and expectations, but nothing happens. It begins to appear that you might use your time more wisely. Maybe that is true, at times.

What does it mean to go that extra mile?

According to freedictionary.com, the idiom, “to go the extra mile” has a number of different meanings. 

“Try harder to please someone or to get the task done correctly; to do more than one is required to do to reach a goal.”

For example, your employer demands perfection in almost everything you do. You know that achieving perfection is impossible in a particular employment situation, but you like your boss and keep trying to please him or her. You want to do your job right. Your intentions are good.

Finally, after repeated efforts, you become exasperated. The task appears hopeless in terms of achieving perfection. There are just too many problems. You begin to wonder if there is not a happy medium somewhere. Are you just wasting your time trying to please your boss? Can he or she be pleased?

Going that extra mile also means “To make more effort than is expected of you”

For example, on the job, you are training someone to do a task and no matter what you say or do, somehow that trainee cannot understand, comprehend or complete the task. To date, no one else has succeeded in training him or her either. No one expects you to keep on trying.

Rather than give up, you start all over again, beginning with the basics. You know that there has to be a missing link somewhere. You also realize that you will not receive payment for the extra time that you put into training this person. You may not even receive a thank you for it. Are you wasting your time? Not if that trainee succeeds.

Going that extra mile is “To do more and make a greater effort.”

Employees will try to do more and make a greater effort when it comes to pleasing employers or competing with one another on the job. Children go that extra mile struggling to please their parents, at times competing with each other. Teenagers try to please their peers by going that extra mile. Students try to please their teachers.

How far does should going that extra mile extend?

Being real or a real person means dealing with reality. At times, there is a lot of merit in knowing when to quit. In other words, while going that extra mile appears to be a good idea at first, continuing to do so may prove to be an exercise in futility.

Employees should try to meet reasonable expectations from employers. They may not receive extra remuneration or thanks. They may receive promotions, bonuses or awards later, if the employer acknowledges their efforts. Children and teenagers do not always receive any kind of thanks or remuneration for going that extra mile either.

Here is another example of going that extra mile. At a local college, only seventeen of thirty students succeed in passing a course in statistics.

“If you are not patient enough to do statistics, you cannot succeed as a counselor,” explains the professor.

Going that extra mile is worth it at times, but having to do so, may be a test of patience. Is time and effort that is invested a waste of time? A lot depends upon the goal one has set and the results one achieves.