"This Time it Counts"

Woo-hoo! A great All Star game, wasn't it? (At least that's what I heard. I boycotted watching the game because of that winner-gets-home-field-advantage-in-the-World-Series-thing. Don't care for that one single bit. Neither did Norman Chad in his Anchorage Daily News article, "All-Star Game is a cross-dressing bearded lady." It's a good read!) But it got me to thinking about the notion that "this time it counts".

Do you think the players would have played any "less hard" if it didn't count? Do you think the managers would have managed any "less strong" if it didn't count? They say no. They say baseball professionals don't game the game that way. Maybe. But business professionals sometimes do.

Go on and admit it. There have been times when YOU haven't played full-out, right? Maybe you were tired, or stressed, or unengaged. Or maybe you figured it didn't really matter because it was some small thing. But maybe it wasn't such a small thing to the person(s) who were counting on you. Maybe to them, it was a really BIG thing. That's THE thing when you work with people - it ALWAYS matters to someone. And it's something worth remembering.

So the next time you're thinking you could care less, tell yourself, "This Time it Counts," and give it your best.