Every Tuesday night, fellow Milsoft employees and I play softball in a corporate softball league. And every Tuesday night, I come home with new bruises or strawberrys on my legs and arms from sliding or diving on the field trying to make a play. I'll come home from the game and show my wife that night's injuries, and she thinks I'm crazy for playing that hard for just a company softball game. She just can't understand it. After our last game she asked me, "Why do you do that? I just don't understand". My only response is: "I don't know any other way to play". We play in a competitive league, so we play softball to win softball games. I'll do whatever it takes to help my team win softball games. The whatever it takes mentality is a valuable thing. I wish more people had this mentality. I think the world would be a better place if more people would do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals and ambitions. In a startup, you're never going to make it without a whatever it takes mentality and surrounding yourself with co-founders who have the same. Businesses should look to hire nothing but whatever it takes-minded people. Companies should partner with partners who will do whatever it takes to make a partnership successful. If you're in charge of a fund-raising or community service event, you should be doing nothing short of whatever it takes to help out the persons or organizations you are supporting. When I say whatever it takes, I don't mean the back-stabbing, short-changing, relationship-ending sort of whatever it takes. I mean doing whatever it takes while preserving everything else that is important. The best way I can describe this is with an example. I have been married for a year and a few months now to my lovely wife. It was tough in the beginning because I was working all the time. I would work late, while my wife would go to bed alone in many cases. This took away from my relationship with my wife. I had to find another way. Now, I could have told my wife, "Sorry hun, this is just part of being married to an entrepreneurially-minded, hard-working husband" or I could find another way to do whatever it takes to be a great husband and continue my side-ventures. My solution, I keep my nights open for my wife and I get up every morning at 2am-ish and start hustling. Easier said than done. Does this mean I had to stop watching Lost and trade it for one of my wife's favorite shows? Yes, I had to start watching "Drop Dead Diva" (ok, I have to admit I sort of like it). Does this mean I can't go out and play in the weekly pick-up basketball and football games? Yes. There are may trade-offs, but to maintain the relationships that really matter and work on other things that I really care it about, you have to do whatever it takes. Some new blog, business venture, side project, etc. etc. will never be worth cutting off those around you. The relationships you have today are your biggest asset in getting anything off the ground. So I ask, why spend your time on something that you aren't going to put all your attention and best efforts to? If you care enough to be doing something in the first place, you should do nothing but whatever it takes to make that something happen. I write this to encourage you. I believe it is possible to accomplish everything you want to given a whatever it takes attitude. Please, don't be lazy and waste this precious gift of life. Are you doing whatever it takes to accomplish your goals and ambitions?