Is that the best you can do? Why, yes…yes it is.
Competition can be a hard concept to live with. It pushes us to do our best to “win”, but can also create an emotional crash when we “lose”. Yes, losing can be a good lesson and create motivation, but social media, reality TV, and other media formats have made failure an excuse to laugh at someone instead of a learning experience. And no one likes to be laughed AT. The onslaught of reality TV has focused on celebrating the person or team that lasted the longest or beat everyone else, but in real life the true test is to focus on our own personal best. There are some sports that focus on just that. While there is always a winner in a marathon, most runners focus on improving on their personal best. While there is always a winner in a round of golf, many players focus on beating their personal best. One professional sports team ends up being the winner, but when regular people play they focus on doing their best for the team. Competition is good it drives us to go farther, but focusing on your own personal best is better by providing goals you can achieve in your own day to day life. There is and will always be someone better, faster, or prettier for that matter, than you, but ask yourself if you are doing the best you can with what you have?
A friend who plays a lot of golf has a saying about playing the best game you can with what you have that day. I think this is how we should feel about everything, and everyone. Are you doing the best with what you have given your circumstance and ability today? If yes, good for you, you get a great day award and get to try to best that tomorrow. If no, then there is room for improvement tomorrow and gives you a personal goal. The problem we run into is comparing our golf game to – insert favorite golfer here – ‘s game. How can we compare and why would we want to? Compete with yourself and see where it takes you.
If there is a meaning for life, it must be to set your own bar and clear it. Do your best and see where it gets you. This can lead to appreciating the best in yourself and other people. Not how you compare, but how well are you doing with what you have.
SASSAwards wants to celebrate everyone’s best so let’s see it.