The Mind Body Project
The Mind Body Project
MM 20: Do Your Best
We challenge the one-size-fits-all idea of “do your best” and replace it with a simple, honest practice you can use every day. Effort changes with energy, season, and context, and grace keeps you showing up.
• why comparison turns effort into disappointment
• how capacity shifts day to day and season to season
• the honest self-check to prevent sandbagging
• practical examples across fitness, work, and relationships
• using grace to accept today’s best without shame
• the simple loop of check, accept, adjust
Thanks for joining me on today’s Mindful Moment. I look forward to seeing you right here next time on Mindful Moments.
Welcome back to a mindful moment. How many times as kids, sometimes as adults, somebody tells us, hey, do your best? I know whenever I played sports as a kid, had a test, whatever it was, my parents would say, do your best. My wife, Kim, I go do something new, I go to a conference, I go speak. Do your best, is what she tells me. And how many times do we hear, do your best? And we get done, and maybe it's a competition. We get done and we got beat. We're so devastated. We go to the gym. We have it, we're on a diet. Do your best. Man, the day I didn't get to the gym. The food wasn't the best today. I want to start doing more devotions. I want to start reading the Bible. I missed today. I only had five minutes. Do your best. We hear that all the time. Do your best. And what happens when we're upset with ourselves? We've compared ourselves to something else that says that wasn't the best. But whenever we hear do your best, isn't that saying do your best? Everybody has different best. Compared to everybody else. Then we rate that best. My parents always told me, do your best. Kim always tells me, do your best. I tell my kids, do your best. Because on different days, your best looks different. What happens if you're feeling a little bit under the weather? You're not feeling great today, you don't have a lot of energy. You say, I'm gonna go to the gym today and I'm gonna walk 20 minutes. You're very capable of running for 20 minutes. You're very capable of running hard for 20 minutes. But today it was a slow walk. But today, that was your best. Because we didn't do very good today. I just walked for 20 minutes. Because we compared today with yesterday. But today, and we have to be honest with ourselves when we talk about your best. Is it did I give the best I could today? Did I do my best on this activity? Did I do my best on this project? Did I do my best in this relationship? And our best looks different at different days, different weeks, different seasons of our life. Our best looks different. Today, I didn't have the energy to run because I was feeling under the weather. So I got on the treadmill, and that was my best. After you know, a slow walk, I was kind of tired, I was kind of exhausted, but I did it. I did my best at that moment. And we have to be really honest and ask ourselves multiple times, is this my best, or am I just trying to what I call sandbag? Just kind of coast it in. So it requires us to be really honest and open with ourselves to say, is this my best? And if it is, to accept that it is our best for that event, that day, that thing, that project, that relationship, that moment. That's the best I have at this moment. And so we have to give ourselves some grace that says, yesterday I could do more, I could be better, but today it's my best. And we're gonna have some of those days that the day before is like, I could take an easy walk, but man, today I just nailed it for 20 minutes. I sprinted, I ran, I jogged, I mean, I worked up a sweat, I burned a thousand and five calories, whatever it is. We have to give ourselves grace to know that our best looks different on different days. So I challenge you to be honest with yourself and say, is this my best? And to give yourself grace and say, This is my best, and that's okay. Thanks for joining me on today's Mindful Moment. I look forward to seeing you right here next time on Mindful Moments.