Friday, May 12, 2000

Integrity of effort

Don’t be concerned with what you can get away with. Be concerned with what you can accomplish. The time spent figuring out how to cut corners can be better used by simply doing the job right.

It’s great to develop ways of becoming more efficient and effective in your work, but not when it compromises the quality or integrity of that work. Finding the time and resources to do it right is always a challenge. Working through that difficult challenge will bring you much more value than simply finding a way to avoid it.

Those who make a 95% effort just manage to get by. Those who make a 100% effort achieve spectacular results. There’s not very much difference in the amount of effort, and yet that difference is crucial. When you cut corners, you save yourself just a little bit of effort, but the price you pay is enormous in terms of diminished results.

Integrity is a bargain. It costs just a little bit more going in, yet it pays for itself many, many times over. Forget about cutting corners. Do it right and ultimately you’ll be the one to claim the biggest prize.

— Ralph Marston

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