How Many Times a Day

Let's start with one of my all time favorites:

"How many times a day to you bargain with yourself to avoid maximum effort? How often have you compromised somewhere between maximum potential and minimum daily requirements? That is just human nature, you may say, but beware of lurking danger! For it does not take long for the minimum to become the maximum you are willing to do. When the minimum becomes the maximum, the sum of your life becomes mediocrity. That is the way people for countless generations have lost a great portion of that character called "excellence." All too often we are willing to settle for a 'comfort zone of mediocrity' caused by a diet of minimum commitment, minimum effort, minimum risk and minimum accomplishment in life."
-Author unknown