Doing our best

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Doing our best

When we wake up in the morning, the day can seem overwhelming. Many times, we develop excuses that justify doing less than our best. It may sound simple, but striving to do our best on a daily basis can produce extraordinary results.

The great basketball coach John Wooden would tell his players, “Never try to be better than someone else, but always be learning from others. Never cease trying to be the best you can be. One is under your control; the other isn’t.”

Nike founder Phil Knight once said, “Beating the competition is relatively easy. Beating yourself is a never-ending commitment.”

Both Coach Wooden and Phil Knight emphasized doing our best, regardless of external factors or our competition. Here are 3 ways to do our best:

Focus on being better than yesterday: Constant improvement compounds over time. By being better than we were yesterday, we set ourselves up to become the best version of ourselves. This has a tendency to produce incredibly positive results.

Consider “is today’s performance my best?” If it is, sleep easy. There is no need to be anxious. If it is not your best, seek to understand why, learn from it and commit to being better tomorrow.

Being at our best means different things to each of us: In running, one person’s best may be running a marathon in 2 hours while another person’s best may be running 1 mile without walking. Doing our best means something different to each of us, so instead of comparing our best to others, we are better off focusing on being at our own best.

Thanks for reading. Let’s have a great week!