Last week, I took another trip back to Hollywood to shoot my infomercial. At this point, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve traveled across the country to work on the script, meet with consultants, read voiceovers and shoot scene after scene after scene. Before I got started on this process, no one would have been able to convince me how many hours it takes to produce a 30-minute video. And while at times, I’ve been tempted to say, “Enough is enough,” I know that I’ll go back as many times as necessary to get it right because it’s that important to the success of my company.

My question for you is: “Are you willing to do what it takes to ‘get it right’ in your life?” Are you willing to call on prospect after prospect until you get your sales presentation right? Are you willing to enroll in class after class until you get the right education? Are you willing to talk to your kids about their study habits, choice of friends or character until you find the right words to reach them? In short, are you willing to do whatever it takes to get it right?

Hopefully, the answer is “Yes,” because the quality of your dash depends upon just such an attitude. Very often, the difference between success and failure is very small. For instance, in the most recent Tour de France, Lance Armstrong finished 4 minutes and 40 seconds ahead of his closest competitor. This may seem like a large margin of victory, until you consider that it took Armstrong more than 82 hours to complete the entire race. In actuality, Armstrong was about 3 seconds faster per hour than the man who finished the race in second place. Think about it for a moment. This is a difference of less than 0.1%. Yet, that difference has made Armstrong a legend in the annals of cycling.

Well, the difference between your ultimate success and failure may be just as small. The difference could be the one extra call you make to potential customer or an investor. It may be that additional edit of your manuscript or that final touch-up to your painting. It may be the extra “I love you” or hug and kiss at the end of the day that makes your marriage the envy of your circle of friends. Or it may be the extra care you take in decorating the cake or hanging the streamers that makes your child’s birthday party a day to remember for the rest of his or her life. Yet, none of these things will happen without a concerted effort on your part to get it right.

This is what distinguishes the winners in life; they’re unwilling to accept being “just good enough,” and rightfully so. I don’t know about you, but I’d hate for my children to one day describe me as a “just good enough” father or for my friends to say that I was a “just good enough” friend. Likewise, I’d hate to give a speech and have someone say, “Oh, that Eric, he was just good enough for our organization.” And certainly, I’d hate for someone to read one of the DASH books and say, “You know, the ideas presented in that book were just good enough for me.”

On the contrary, I’m seeking to do the best I can possibly do. Given my skills, talents and circumstances, I want to be the best father, the best friend, the best speaker, the best writer, the best manager, the best neighbor and the best citizen that I can be. Being merely adequate isn’t enough for me.

And I suspect that it isn’t good enough for you either. After all, do you want to be known on your job as the person who does just enough? Or do you want to be known within your family as the member who cares just enough? Of course not. We all want to be known as the person who gave it our all. We want to be able to feel at the end of the dash that we made the most significant contribution possible for us.

As I see it, that’s the true measure of success – making the most out of your God-given skills and talents. Therefore, I urge you to never settle for anything less than your best in the important areas of your life. Never stop learning and growing. Never stop seeking and reaching. Never give anything less than your absolute best. It’s worth the extra effort to get it right.