When Should You Do Your Best Work?

Today (and every day) we can choose to give our best performance…or not. It doesn’t matter what falls in the way, what someone says or does unexpectedly or anything else that happens that’s out of our control. These roadblocks don’t change anything about our posture…unless we allow them. Every time we face a roadblock, what happens if we ratchet up our best selves even more? What happens if we lean in with more positive action and leadership? What happens if we become even more generous? 

The beauty is we know the unexpected is coming. So we can choose what to do with it…in advance. When running a marathon the first time, every mile is new. And when the “wall” comes we’re not sure what to do. But the next time, we know when the real pain is going to appear…when our best self self needs to show up even more.

It’s not nearly as hard to do your best when everything goes as planned. But it’s extremely important to continue to choose to do so when they don’t.

Choose wisely.

Ban the Word Best

…in marketing. 

The word best has no place in marketing or in any conversation when trying to describe an idea, product, service or thing. Yet, it happens very regularly because it’s such a powerful word. And it’s a short cut. It’s a way of getting to the punchline of a joke without going through the trouble of telling it. But have you ever noticed how a joke is super funny to one person and doesn’t at all strike a chord with another? The same goes for your idea, design, meal or service delivery. Best is shaped individually from individual world views and the individual stories people tell themselves. And the suggestion that your thing is the best implies that everything else in this category is flawed in some way and that somehow you have solved all of the problems associated with this thing. And even if you did…which problems need solving in the first place? The Google Pixel and the Apple iPhone are both the best for someone…but not for everyone. 

The more effective (yet far more challenging) approach when describing your thing is to define it’s unique position in the world with true stories that will emotionally connect with some people. Your job is to find an audience which values these individualities as much as you do. To them, your idea is the best. But you never claimed that spot…they did.