“Nobody who ever gave his best regretted it.”–George Halas
When I was a kid, my dad coached a championship little league football team sponsored by Sunday Best (Dry Cleaners). That was a thing in the ‘70s—to wear your “Sunday best” clothes.
Yesterday in class we discussed competition effort versus training effort. An athlete never trains at a competition maximum—because the risk of injury is too great. It is the same with “be your best today; be better tomorrow.” Our daily best is rarely our possible best. There are many reason for this—mostly we are dealing with too many “bests” in any given day (e.g., best parenting, best employee/boss, best spouse/partner, best training, etc.). There are days, however, when we are called to our “competition best.” It is the day-to-day commitment to growth—our “daily bests”—that enable us to rise to the present occasion.
Daily best is the commitment to consistency and the application of “progressive overload” (i.e., consistently striving to be better today than we were yesterday). Daily best equates to dedication.
Being our daily best requires a plan—a growth plan—that seeks progressive change. (I like the Japanese word kaizen for “continuous improvement.”) Our growth plan must include daily goals (i.e., a baby step approach) for our Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social well-centered fitness. Progressive growth does not come about haphazardly. It requires practice, repetition, and challenge to the status quo.
Events have revealed much about us individually and collectively—if we choose to look in the mirror. We cannot expect our daily best (and certainly not our competition best) if we are unwilling to look within, self-evaluate, and determine that yesterday (the past self) is “good enough” for today.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!!