You did it yesterday, and again today and in fact, you’ve always done it.
You’re even doing it right now.
In every waking moment, you are doing your best.
Can you see that for yourself?
I wanted to explore this idea for anyone who, like me, may find themselves adrift in this current reality of uncertainty, remote and distanced everything and fear. You are doing the best you can. As you always have.
What’s important about knowing that? It occurred to me that taking a moment to recognize this truth does two things: it keeps self judgement at bay, and it creates space, if you want - to do better. Because best is a point in time, it’s not a forever thing. My best may change from day to day, even moment to moment - join me for a round of golf and you’ll immediately see what I mean.
My best effort is the result of time, energy and commitment that was available to me or I was interested in investing.
If I am willing to change one of those variables, the outcome changes with it.
There’s something empowering about knowing and accepting that for yourself. It frees you from the burden of judgement – yours or anyone else’s and it gives you a place to move forward from.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou
My best is never going to be the same as yours. Ever. When you think about it from that perspective, there is only one opinion that matters, and that is yours.
Don’t confuse doing your best with being the best.
In his article “Why ‘doing your best’ is better bet than ‘being the best’“ author Remy Blumenfeld describes two styles of ambition: being the best and doing your best. Those driven to be the best are generally described as being competitive, likely to put themselves first, and not as strong on collaboration. Those in the doing their best camp are naturally driven to be better by striving to improve on their personal best and master new skills.
Accepting you’ve done your best requires you to think differently about failure.
Did you fall short of your goal? You still did your best.
As part of that experience, you may have learned some new skills, honed some existing ones and expanded your capabilities with some new learning, insights or self-awareness. As Suzanne Kane explains in “Do your Best”, you may have been overly ambitious in your goal setting. Or, maybe partway through you realized what you were trying to accomplish no longer held the same level of interest for you. So consider then that failure may not only point out that we could have done better – consider instead that failure guides us to do differently.
Enough with the self-doubt.
Even when you believe you could have done better – you still did your best in that moment. Hold tight to that truth, because it is your truth and if it matters enough to you, let it inspire you to pick yourself up and try again.
“The only person you are destined to become is the one you decide to be”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some additional reads on doing your best, including the articles mentioned here, can be found on the Resources page.
