slacking

I heard something on the tv tonight. Law & Order, if you must know. A lead character was being counseled and the counselor said something to the effect of: "You just have to accept that even if you do everything right, make all the right choices, you still might have a bad outcome." The lead character said out loud exactly what went through my head: "Why?"

What's the point in doing everything right if it doesn't assure a good outcome? Why bother spending the energy to learn and do things correctly if I'm just as likely to have a bad result as if I just winged it, didn't consider all the options and just slacked off in general? Why put forth effort to do something well when you'll get the same result if you don't?

Having lived these forty (very) odd years, I know full well that there is little comfort indeed in this abstract notion that you've 'done your best.' It doesn't pay the mortgage, it doesn't mean he still loves you, it doesn't make the hurt go away and in many cases, just seems to make it worse.

Again, I ask why. Why do your best when just doing the minimum has the same result?