When we were in school, 50% was a pass and often many of us were content to just do enough to pass. many of us have carried this mentality on into our working lives. We do just enough to get by each day, to produce the minimum that we can get away with. If we make mistakes, we figure that someone else will pick up the slack. We never really think about what happens beyond our own doors. We forget that "no man is an island" and that every stone thrwon into a pond causes a ripple effect that affects everything around it.
You are the stone, you are cast into the waters and what you do affects everyone around you. What kind of an effort are you making in your job today. Are you content to be "just good enough", or are you striving to be better?
Consider the following:
If 99.9% is good enough, then...
12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.
114,500 mismatched pairs of shoes will be shipped each year.
18,322 pieces of mail will be mishandled per hour.
2,000,000 documes will be lost by the IRS/Revenue Canada this year.
2.5 million books will be shipped with the wrong covers.
Two planes landing at Chicago's O'Hare airport will be unsafe every day.
315 entries in Webster's dictionary will be misspelled.
20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions will be written this year.
880,000 credit cards in circulation will turn out to have incorrect cardholder information on their magnetic strips.
103,260 income tax returns will be processed incorrectly during the year.
5.5 million cases of soft drinks produced will be flat.
291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly.
3,056 copies of tomorrow's Wall Street Journal will be missing one of the three sections.
Think about the above as you go to work this week. Be the best you can be and do the best you can do. GIve all your effort to your work while you are at work, and all your effort to your family life when you are at home.
Have a wonderful year!
Fran Watson
