I'm a believer in the principle that the last 10% of any endeavor is usually the most challenging... because it's most often when a group, team or church reaches 90% completed that it becomes very easy to settle for that as "good enough." However, I feel calling 90% "good enough" is like climbing a mountain and stopping short of the summit. You've put all of the effort into getting this far, why not see things through to completion.Craig Groeschel posted some thoughts recently on "the final 10%." I thought they were worth repeating:
Last year, I had two different men doing a project at my house. One completed the work as agreed. Although he did what I asked him to do, he left a big pile of trash, he left without asking me to view his work, and he never followed up.
The other man cleaned up his mess daily. Not only did he clean up after himself, but he even helped me haul off the other guy’s trash.
When he was finished, he asked me to look at his work to see if I was satisfied. I expressed my satisfaction, but he saw some small flaws that bothered him. Even though I said they didn’t matter, he insisted on fixing them.
One month after his job was finished, he called to ask if I was still pleased with his work.
The second man gave the final 10%. I’ve referred several other people to him. I didn’t refer anyone to the first worker.
The final 10% might not seem worth it at the time. Over the long haul, I truly believe God blesses the final 10% more than the first 90%.
Someone said it well, “If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing right."
