Giving Your Best Effort ALL the Time

As teachers, coaches, and parents we emphasize to our students and children that giving your best effort is one of the most important things one can do no matter what it is your doing.  Winning or getting the "A" doesn't always define success.  The first basketball team I ever coached achieved great success and finished 12-12.  They worked hard all season, improved tremendously, played as a team, and displayed great mental toughness.  As teachers we've all had students who received a "C" but completely outworked students with "A's" and "B's".  Effort doesn't insure success, but without it, you don't have a chance.

I came across a few of these examples that show what 99% effort would result in should it be reality in certain cases.  

If we had to live with 99% effort, we would have:

• ·      One hour of unsafe drinking water every month,
• ·      Two unsafe plane landings per day at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport,
• ·      16,000 pieces of lost mail every hour,
• ·      22 checks deducted from the wrong bank account every week,
• ·      500 incorrect surgical operations every week,
• ·      12 babies given to the wrong parents every day,
• ·      20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions each year, and
• ·      800,000 credit cards with incorrect information.

100% effort makes sense.