I have also served as Editor and Publisher of my Rotary Club's weekly bulletin for four years, winning awards in the process. Several editorials that I wrote a few years ago have been reprinted in several languages and in the weekly bulletins of several hundred Rotary Clubs, as well as ROTI. Here is another of the more popular ones.
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I wish my mother would have said, “If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well.” A few of you know about my late mother…she was not the easiest person to live with. If you have read the book, Mommy Dearest, by Christina Crawford, than you have read about my early childhood. And, the parallels continue. My mother was an alcoholic and a Joan Crawford wannabe. When she learned that Crawford drank 100 proof Smirnoff Vodka in a water glass, while everyone else was drinking water, then cases of 100 proof Smirnoff Vodka began appearing in the house.

I am not talking about perfectionism, for “perfect” is found only in the dictionary! Those who think a thing must be perfect before it is finished will accomplish very little. I have yet to write a perfect letter, prepare a perfect meal or give a perfect speech. I admit, I’ve made a perfect fool of myself at times, but I wasn’t trying!

Most of the time, however, my mother’s admonition was on the mark. If a thing is worthy of my time, it is worthy of my best time. Looking back at Father’s Day, it is especially important to our children.

In some of his speeches, Louis T. Rader relates that many top executives feel that a 99 percent effort is good enough. But here is the eye opener - if this figure (99 percent good enough) were converted into our daily non-industrial life, it means that more than 30,000 babies would be accidentally dropped by doctors and nurses each year. Electricity would be off for fifteen minutes each day.

Others have calculated that 99 percent good enough means that: 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; 2.5 million books will be shipped with the wrong cover; two planes will crash daily at Chicago’s O’Hare airport; 315 entries in Webster’s Dictionary will be misspelled; and 291 pacemaker operations will be performed incorrectly.

Sometimes 99 percent really isn’t good enough. Texas’ first black congresswoman, Barbara Jordon, once said, “Each day you have to look into the mirror and say to yourself, ‘I’m going to be the best I can no matter what it takes.’” She never said, “I will be the best.” She said, “I will be the best I can.” And it was because of her desire to be her best...that she became one of our best. Perfect is only found in the dictionary, but doing and being one’s best is an important part of a happy and fulfilled life. It is essential to being a good ‘dad.’ “Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it,” Jessica Guidobono reminds us.