“The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”
~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
A powerful quote, yet most of us missed out on the valuable lesson. A valuable lesson we missed because we prevent ourselves from taking the time to absorb the meaning of what is being said. A valuable lesson we missed because we jumped to a conclusion by inserting our own beliefs versus actually listening to what is being said. A mental process where we choose to insert or own beliefs because we find working to improve is hard. Too hard with an unfortunate result; we are losing out on a chance to improve.
Improving requires change and we tend to find it easier to justify why we are not improving. In sports we blame our coach for never teaching us anything, while in business we blame our boss for inhibiting our growth. In each case we are excusing our failure by transferring blame versus taking responsibility for controlling where we end up. In the end it is less difficult by blaming someone else versus truly admitting we are comfortable with failure. A comfort we use to reason away why we are truthfully failing.
We fail to change because we fail to change something. In many cases we are so comfortable failing we are note even aware of that ‘something‘ we need to change and whether changing it would make a difference or not. Why? Because we create an ill-conceived notion, a justification based upon our emotions, of where something is going to end up. A fictitious result we emotionally justify in our minds versus spending time researching what it actually takes to become successful. What it actually takes to improve.
Which is why I believe most of us are more comfortable with the passive ‘do our best,’ versus having to put the work in to answer the active question, ‘did you do your best today?’ Yet, if we did, I believe more of us would be prepared for tomorrow. So I would like to recommend every evening before you go to bed, challenge yourself with Marshall Goldsmith’s “6 Daily Questions” beginning with the phrase “Did I do my best to…” This forces US to take responsibility for OURSELVES versus looking for a coach, looking for a boss, or looking for a company to help us improve.
- Did I do my best to Set clear goals?
- Did I do my best to Make progress toward achieving my goals?
- Did I do my best to Find meaning?
- Did I do my best to Be happy?
- Did I do my best to Build positive relationships?
- Did I do my best to Be fully engaged?
Until next blog be proactive and make a change, versus reacting to whatever happens tomorrow.
Al McCormick
