Shoot for the Moon…
There are so many sayings and expressions centered around doing your best, giving it your all and so forth. Probably so many one can get caught up trying to find the right one to use for a given situation or circumstance. They all mean well after all. How much of an encouragement are they, or have the potential to be? What determines their effectiveness, if at all? And the more important question, how can we be sure we’ve done our best? How can we be certain, that no matter how we did, was indeed our very best?
Athletes are a prime example of this. Let’s say for example at a track meet a person runs the 200-meter sprint for the first time and finishes dead last. Did they do their best? Now, let’s say they run the same race the following week and finish second last, but with a slower time. Did they do their best? According to their placing at the end of the race they improved their standing and therefore, one can argue, they had not done their best the race before. The time in which they finished the second race was, however, slower than the first race, therefore they had not done their best.
I guess the question is still not answered then, is it? Is our best determined by outside expectations, or by internal desires. I believe at that precise time; I am the best one to determine whether or not I had done my absolute best. If this be true, if I can truly say without any hesitation I gave it my all, my very best shot, and did not finish where I wanted to, expected to, did I fail?
Then you have people uttering encouraging statements such as ‘Better luck next time.,’ as if luck were the determining factor rather than skill , experience, or fortitude. Does luck have anything to do with you or me doing our best? If doing our best is left up to luck what’s the point of even trying at all? I make it a point, as best as I can to never wish anyone luck. At best I wish them the best of opportunities because it’s what we do with our opportunities that propel us forwards or backwards.
In the example above with the athlete there were two things going on. An improved race standing, and a slower time run. If the runner uses both factors as a means of encouragement to perform better in the third race and they succeed, had they not done their best to begin with, OR did they allow those factors drive them to improve themselves?
We all strive to do better by our own understanding of what better is. At least we should try to. Allowing others to determine whether or not we can do or should do better should match our own belief in ourselves. There is an expression about the moon and stars I have snaggled and made my own. Shoot for the moon but reach for the stars. I believe this attitude can keep someone content knowing they did their absolute best in the current present situation but knowing the potential to do better still exists.
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