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Why Do Your Best?

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Why bother? Isn’t it a lot of extra energy and effort to do your best?

When you look around, there seems to be a lot of people doing only the minimum to get by . . . they are doing only what is expected of them and no more. This is not the way to enjoy feelings of personal satisfaction.

We do our best for one simple reason. It feels good. In fact, doing our best is the most efficient way to continually feel good about all aspects of life. When we are committed to doing our best, there is no room for regrets.

Second-Guessing

If you give something a half-hearted effort and it fails, you will always wonder about it. The inevitable problems that always accompany grand plans often overwhelm luke-warm effort. You will always have a nagging regret that it may have turned out better, if only you had done your best.

“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.” - Duke Ellington

If you do your best and it fails, oh well . . . at least you did your best. No regrets. If you did your best, it’s easier to let it go, move on and do your best at something else.

As an example, let’s say you’re interested in starting a new business. You decide to dabble a bit, try a couple of methods, and see what happens. If it doesn’t work out, you will always wonder what might have happened and what additional freedoms and abundance you might be enjoying now, if you had only done your best then.

Instead, if you are committed to doing your best, you either do it and give it your all, or you don’t do it.

“There is no try. Only do.” – Yoda

If you did your best and the business fails, there will be no lingering doubts about your level of involvement. No fault. No blame. No foul. You did your best. It didn’t work. So what? Release it, move on, and find something else that you would enjoy giving your best to.

“It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and *then* do your best.” - William Edwards Deming (1900-93)

Your Best Is All About Enjoyment

When you do your best, it’s not drudgery. It’s not a chore. It’s not a prison sentence.

It’s a dance you do with the universe . . . it’s your way of allowing life to flow through you without ego getting in the way and pinching it off. That’s what doing your best feels like. It feels effortless, painless and easy.

When you do something you don’t want to do, it’s all too easy to feel coerced, manipulated and resentful. When you give something a half-assed effort, it’s not satisfying in any way.

Even if you perform such an action just to get it over with, upon completion, you still don’t feel good about yourself. Why? Because you didn’t do your best. There was no flow, no feeling of being in the zone, no personal satisfaction . . . either during the action or upon completion.

Your Best Changes

Your best gets better with practice. Also, your best is better at different times of the day. Maybe you’re a morning person. Your best at midnight probably isn’t up to par with your best before noon. With practice, you learn when you can perform your best and plan your most important actions to make the most of your prime time. It’s simply a matter of maximizing your effectiveness based on your experience of knowing when you can deliver the best of your best.

At other times, you don’t have to be concerned about it. Why? Because you did your best. No regrets. End of story.

Your Best is Good Enough

It’s self-defeating to try to do better than your best. For instance, if you fixate upon meeting the standards of someone else’s idea of best, you run the risk of burn-out. You may deplete your energy reserves and do more harm than good by trying to live up to some fuzzy standard of someone else’s best. If you go over the top, trying to do better than your best, you introduce unreasonable expectations, which adds stress and makes it more difficult to do your best.

“Success has a simple formula: do your best, and people may like it.” - Sam Ewing

Your best is good enough. Just do that. Some will like it. Others won’t. But you will feel good.

That’s the bottom line anyway. We all want to feel good about what we do, how we do it and who we are. Feeling good begins with doing your best. No less and no more.

Guilt-Free and Blameless

By doing your best, nobody can blame you, or pronounce you guilty, or judge you . . . especially yourself. Your commitment to doing your best at whatever detail you are doing now is enough. So cut yourself some slack.

No self-guilt. No self-judgment. No self-blame. Just do your best and silence all those energy-sucking internal voices forever.

Like a Reed in the River for Water to Flow Through

When you do something, you are providing a conduit for the energy of the universe to experience the pure joy of action. When you get out of the way, and allow your best action to flow, everyone and all of life wins. Action allows you to express who you are.

“A reed in the river,
For water to flow through.
A hallow reed.
It’s just as it has always been.
And I am only a reed, a reed in the river,
A reed in the river of life am I.”
- from the song, “Story Belt” by Tupelo Kenyon

Do Your Best to Manifest through Action

Ideas, schemes and dreams are a dime a dozen. But taking your best action on your ideas is an expression of life on the physical plane. Without your action, manifestation has its hands tied.

Focus your thoughts, feel your passion, then act upon your dreams by doing your best with single-minded purpose. That’s the recipe to enjoy the power of creation flowing through you.

Do Your Best Now

You can’t do your best yesterday, and you can’t do your best ten years ago. Your commitment to doing your best is applied to this present moment. Don’t dwell in the past.

Take a brief glimpse backwards now and then, just long enough to notice how your best may have produced better outcomes. Return to the present and apply that thought to right now, and do your best now so you’ll never have to wonder about it in the future.

Some people look back and say, “If only . . .”
Instead, look forward and say, “What if . . .?”
Do your best and find out.

While reading, did you choose to hear the relaxing instrumental music linked at the beginning of this article? To learn more about it, click here.

Listen FREE to the songs below . . . chosen to enhance the ideas in this article.

Story Belt Celebrates the importance of keeping things in perspective while being a part of the bigger picture. http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescHere.html#Anchor8 What Would Love Do Now It’s tough to remember to ask yourself this question in the heat of the moment, but it can pay big dividends. http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescHere.html#Anchor10 Love is Who You Are "What is love, anyway?" Is it something you give or get, have or make? Or could it be, down deep, simply who we are? http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescHB.html#Anchor1 Be Kind Your example and the kindness shown to others can have a rippling affect that goes on and on. http://www.somemusicmatters.com/DescHB.html#Anchor9 Songs by Tupelo
Right Action at the Right Time Perpetual pondering without action is also known as daydreaming. Being consumed by action without the proper mental and emotional preparations is ineffective at best and a waste of time and energy at worst. How do these two components of manifestation work together and how do we determine when it’s time to quit thinking about it, roll up our sleeves and get to work? Get a Broader Perspective - Do It Different and Work Smarter When I think of the view from our broader perspective, to me, it means the viewpoint of our inner self . . . who we really are. Without the filters of our ego, the world looks quite different. The problem is . . . this lofty viewpoint seems illusive. People occasionally identify with broader perspective with no apparent effort or intent, but it’s rare to arrive at such a viewpoint accidentally. More commonly, brief glimpses are caught deliberately by intent, and repeated by personal discipline and the use of clever techniques. Why Completion Feels So Good and How to Get it Done Half-done tasks and unfinished projects have a way of taking on a life of their own. They are needy reminders of your past, pulling at your attention and depleting your energy. They are mental nags, getting in the way of you living fully in the present. Instead of bogging down in the remnants of the past, clear it out and be receptive to the creative process. Fill your life with things and experiences in sync with where you are going, rather than where you’ve been. Persistence and Perseverance for Winners - Losers Just Quit Giving up is easy. Most people make a habit of giving up. In fact, they make a life of it Persistence through a solution-oriented attitude is for visionaries, dreamers and other winners who refuse to take “no” for a final answer. Action and Satisfaction A satisfying life includes time for doing balanced by time for being , embracing and celebrating all aspects of life. Being, doing, having . . . all these things are important ingredients of our package of life experience. Denying any aspect of it only serves to diminish our joy of living a full, inspired, and satisfying life. Quarter Million Dollar Idea for Productivity Some people get things done and some don’t. Why is that? We all have the same number of hours in the day. Supercharge your productivity with this simple but powerful idea. One man actually paid a quarter million dollars for it (and felt he got a steal!). It’s yours free if you can prioritize the time to take a look. Articles by Tupelo