It’s an inversion of the saying that ends in “worth doing well”, and it sticks with me because it’s genuinely good advice.
Like, turning in a half-completed assignment for a failing grade is way less harmful to one’s GPA than failing to turn in anything and taking a “0”. I might not have the energy after work to do all of my laundry, but knocking out one load is still better than none. Frozen dinners might not be healthy, but skipping meals would be worse.
You can’t whole-ass everything all the time, but half-ass is better than no-ass. 😸