She gave me the look.

You know the look, the one that says, "You're obsessing again. Step away from the computer!"

I was knee-deep in the start up of a work-at-home project. With three kids, two in private school, I went fishing for additional revenue streams and came across one opportunity I felt had real potential. I wrapped my arms and mind around the business model, set about organizing and outlining steps to implement the business and earn extra cash online ... then had at it.

Myopic focus can be a character flaw in certain contexts, but in business start-up it's essential. By pouring on the effort, time and detailed attention to the front-end of your online business or other endeavors, you can reap real rewards later (i.e. - profits!).

Certain internet businesses require only minimal attention, if first set-up properly. That's why researched decision-making and effort at the ground level are so important.

But you must adopt a single-mindedness early on to get it done and realize your goals.

Radio talk show host and author Dave Ramsey speaks about "gazelle intensity", an explosive, frenetic push to help his readers create wealth and eliminate debt. He alludes to the gazelles of the Serengeti, peacefully grazing or playing among the herd. Suddenly, they're alerted to the presence of a cheetah. Gazelles are the cheetah's primary food staple, and baby gazelles the big cat's Happy Meals. But despite being the fastest land animal, cheetahs rarely catch their prey.

Why? Because the gazelle can be standing still in one moment ... then darting, dodging and juking in the next. Their flight and evade skills are so intense and refined that even the cheetah finds it difficult to overcome them.

Ramsey, in his best-selling Financial Peace book and course, encourages readers to set goals, focus their money to the penny and pour on the effort, whether building Roth IRAs in long-term investing, or paying down burdensome credit card debt. It's this extreme effort - for really just a short period of time - that allows people to find financial success and discover new opportunities through the freedom they now enjoy.

That same single-mindedness applies to business start-ups, but sometimes it's difficult to maintain that zealous effort when you're not seeing the fruits of your labors. Anyone can get excited when sales and profits are streaming in, but not everyone can maintain a positive outlook while slogging through the muck of Web development, search engine optimization, writing advertising and the like.

One simple tool you can use is a checklist. You should already have outlined the major steps necessary to create and then implement your business. Now break that outline down even further with specific tasks listed. As you complete these jobs, take the time to check them off, highlight them, torch the paper they're written on ... whatever.

Just allow yourself to enjoy and mull over the work completed and steps you've taken to get that much closer to goal.

There can be real joy in the process, in the work. This is where you push yourself, where you challenge your mind and body alike. Revel in it; don't wallow in doubt or self-pity! When you give everything you've got toward a task, you'll forever look back with satisfaction at the effort you made.

And if it doesn't work out, you'll have no regrets or doubts because you covered all of the bases.

Yeah, I finally learned the value of applying maximum effort early on to the tasks I undertake. And my wife ... she still gives me the look. But it's usually followed by a smile, because she too knows the value of the big push.