Some things need to be done 100% without fail.

How many heart beats can you do without? It is all right for your heart to work correctly 95% of the time? 95% is close to 100%. Statistically rounded, it is 100%.

It is all right for traffic signals at a given intersection to show green for all directions at the same time, even only rarely? Can we really expect 100%? 100% is kind of a lofty goal. Can we allow for traffic signals to show green for all directions even once every week?

Would it be all right for professional airline pilots to do their pre-flight checks 99% of the time? 99% is pretty good. Can we allow the mechanics who maintain the airplanes to do maintenance less than 100% of the time? How often should a pilot fly sober and awake. They're only human. Sometimes maybe they can fly drunk or sleepy, right?

How far short of 100% can we live with clean and healthful water? If someone gets too busy every once in a while, wouldn't it be okay to just let water go on through into the municipal system without purifying it?

How often should you be on time to work, if your employer has a culture of arriving on time? I know there are companies where people come and go as they need to, and I think there is something to that, depending on what needs to be done and how. But if you're expected to be on time, how often can you be late? You can probably be late every once in a while without being fired, but if your employer has the on-time culture, I guarantee someone notices when you're late, and you'll lose opportunities, promotions, and raises because of it.

Would you be happy receiving 99% of your paychecks?

How often can you treat a customer as an imposition? How often should you treat a customer with the utmost respect and appreciation? Customers can be difficult to deal with sometimes, and sometimes those of us who deal with customers just don't feel up to it. Maybe we should set a goal for 98%. If we treat 98% of our customers well, that's good enough, isn't it? Can the company you work for afford to lose two customers out of every 100? The problem is that the two will be much more active about telling everyone they know about their negative experience than the 98 will to tell anyone about a positive experience. Perhaps for every two customers you treat negatively, your company will lose 20 or 30 customers or potential customers. How many customers can you really afford to offend? Think about it. Can you treat any fewer than all of your customers as though you love them and want to serve them?

If you decide to get on a regular exercise schedule, how often can you miss? Life is hectic. Maybe it would be better just to exercise when you have the time, and forget it when time is tight. In the first place, you know as well as I that if you have such an attitude, you will never exercise. I also know that it doesn't take long of neglecting your exercise to lose all the good effect of exercising previous to that. You can exercise four or five times a week for twenty years and enjoy the good effect. Then you can stop exercising for a month and lose everything you gained in twenty years.

How often is it okay to be dishonest? Can you really be honest 100% of the time? What will happen if you let honesty slide every once in a while? About the same as exercising for twenty years, and then stopping for a month. All the good reputation and trust you might have gained will be gone, perhaps never to return even if you subsequently make sure you're honest at every turn for the rest of your life.

How often can you cheat on your spouse? Let's be realistic. Only once in a whole lifetime is pretty darned good, isn't it? All those years of complete faithfulness have to count for something. How could anyone get terribly upset about only once in an entire lifetime?

There are things that simply must be done and cared about 100% of the time. If you won't do them 100%, you almost might as well not do them at all.

Decide what the 100% Activities and 100% Philosophies are and should be in your life. Then have the mature commitment to accept no excuses. Go full bore, 100%, no failures.