Thursday, February 1, 2001

Make the first time count

If you only put half the necessary effort into a task, you’ll eventually need to do it again, and perhaps again. Does that make any sense? Of course not. If you really want to save yourself time and effort, make every effort your very best effort. When something must be done, work on it with the objective of getting it right the first time.

You likely won’t get it perfect. What’s important is that you make your first effort count as much as possible. Don’t depend on fixing it later. Do what’s necessary to get it right the first time around. Then, instead of spending time fixing it, you can move on to something else.

You’re spending your precious time and effort. Make it count. Rather than doing the very minimum, do the very most. Rather than marking time, rather than just getting through it, use your time to accomplish something of value. The extra effort and attention you put into getting it right the first time will be returned many times over.

— Ralph Marston

Step up to commitment You can expect it next

Copyright ©2001 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All Rights Reserved. The Daily Motivator is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. Other than personal sharing, please do not re-distribute without permission.