Five-year-old Cathy walked into the shop knowing exactly what kind of shoes she wanted, and asked the salesman: “Do you know everything about shoes?” “Well,” he answered, “almost everything.”

At that, Cathy asked suspiciously, “Then why are you selling them?” The salesman drew back, and prepared himself to receive an important lesson: if you live your life by “almosts,” what kind of result can you really expect?

— Joyce Chapman, “Live Your Dreams”