A few months ago, I received an e-mail from a fellow Dasher and thought it might inspire you as much as it inspired me. This email was somewhat different from the many e-mails I gladly receive each week from those of you who are successfully implementing the DASH Principles because the subject of this e-mail, Maria, is not a DASH reader. In fact, from what I could gather, Maria has never heard of the DASH book. Yet, she embodies the DASH Principles better than almost anyone I've ever read about.

Maria is a recent immigrant who currently works as a housekeeper for the person who wrote me the e- mail. At night, Maria attends school and is working towards her degree. Well, as the story was told, one day, Maria was late for work. This was unusual, prompting her employer to become somewhat concerned. Fortunately, about twenty minutes later, Maria arrived, along with her six-year-old daughter. Upon entering the home, Maria immediately began to apologize for her tardiness and explained that her car wouldn't start that morning.

"Well, how did you get here?" asked her friend and employer. Maria answered matter of factly, "We walked." "You walked? You live at least six miles from here!" exclaimed her amazed employer. Maria simply answered, "Si," and began her daily chores. Needless to say, Maria's employer was blown away that a woman would walk six miles with a young child in tow just to get to work.

And quite frankly, so was I. In fact, I was humbled by Maria's commitment to meeting her obligations. I'd like to think that I would have done the same thing in that situation but honestly, I'm not so sure. As I think back on it, there have been many times when I didn't meet my commitments and I could have done so with a lot less effort than Maria expended to meet hers. And if you're honest, you can probably say the same thing.

Just think, by most people's standards, Maria had enough of a reason to miss work that day. Yet, Maria understood that while there may be 10,000 reasons for failing to meet your commitments, there is never a single excuse. Therefore, she decided that she was going to go to work no matter what. And in doing so, she not only inspired her employer, me and hopefully, now you, but she has taken a huge step towards obtaining her piece of the American dream.

Although I gave up gambling years ago, I'd be willing to come out of "retirement" to bet that Maria will finish school. I'd also be willing to bet that she will succeed in whatever field she enters. Why? Because she has a "no matter what" attitude. She will succeed no matter what the obstacles. If only we were all like Maria.

Well, the good news is that we can be just like her. We simply need to throw away our excuses and decide, once and for all, that we will meet our commitments no matter what. If we promise our boss that the report will be ready by Friday, then it will be ready by Friday no matter what. If we promise our family a vacation to Hawaii next summer, then they will be sitting on those white sand beaches sipping mai tais no matter what.

If we do anything less, then we do a disservice to those who put their trust in us. And perhaps, equally important, we do a disservice to ourselves. Every time, we make a promise that we don't keep, we weaken our own credibility. It doesn't take long before people stop trusting you altogether. Sure, you may be reliable 90% of the time but who wants to hope and pray that they don't fall in the unlucky 10% category?

And take it from me; your credibility is all you've got. I learned this lesson the hard way. By unwillingness to meet my commitments to investors and customers lead to my incarceration. However, believe it or not, my freedom was not the biggest casualty in this situation. After all, in a little more than three years, I was released from prison. Yet, my reputation is still shackled to the misdeeds of my past. Despite the fact that I have committed my life to helping others make the most of their lives, there are still some people who will never trust me as far as they can throw me (which isn't far, considering that I'm 6'4" and weigh 220 pounds).

Therefore, before you do irreparable harm to your reputation in the eyes of your family members, friends, colleagues and peers, learn to be a no matter what person. Resolve within yourself that you are going to meet your commitments regardless of the circumstances that may arise to seemingly "excuse" you from doing so. When people know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can count on you, you will be amazed at the opportunities that open up to you. Your customers will entrust you with larger orders. Your clubs and organizations will entrust you with greater positions. And your family and friends will respect and appreciate you more than ever.

For instance, can you imagine the respect that Maria will receive from her young son? Perhaps, today, he can't appreciate why his mommy made him walk such a long way but one day, he will. And he will be proud to be Maria's son and hopefully, want to be just like her.

While a relatively young man, I had the opportunity to play golf with Michael Jordan on a few occasions. As you can imagine, I was honored to be in the presence of perhaps the greatest athlete of our time. And like almost everyone else, I wanted to be like Mike. And while I certainly still have a lot of respect for Mr. Jordan, I now want to be like Maria. And I will be like Maria - NO MATTER WHAT!