First a quote: “Doing the best at this moment, puts you in the best place for the next moment.”
― Oprah Winfrey
Was yesterday your best day? Please know I’m not asking about the quality of your day. I’m not asking if yesterday “was your best day” because it was fun, happy, challenging, rewarding, easy, successful, or any other possible adjective you might use to “measure or evaluate” the quality of your day. I am however, asking if you gave your personal best effort yesterday, regardless of what you did, or didn’t, accomplish.
To explain, I’ll use an example from the formative years of my career; a lesson I learned from one of my very first managers, a mentor of sorts. I launched my career as a professional photographer and worked in that profession for a small handful of years before I was asked if I would consider a possible career in management. My manager wanted to know if I was interested in the company’s management trainee program. He saw potential in me that I didn’t see in myself and that was scary.
I was puzzled by the offer since I had never managed a single person nor anything for that matter. I questioned my manager’s reasoning. The following is an abbreviated version of his response.
He said, “Always do your best, wherever you are, with whatever you have, and whomever you’re with. Bryan, you earned your way into your photography degree program by giving your best earlier in life. What you did there helped earn your first job here at this company. What you did in that first job, earned you the next opportunity we offered you. Because we have seen the best in you there, we believe you will also excel in our management trainee program.”
That philosophy has served me well. I believe it was that early advice that eventually put me in a position where I now have the good fortune to work with great leaders, teams and companies all over the country, even internationally. Oprah is right, doing your best in the here and now will set you up for whatever is next in your career and in your life. Why not start giving your best, every day and in every way? Someday, you will be glad you did.
For years, the very last thing I said to our children before they headed out of the door for school was: “Do your best. Give your best, and, be your best… always… the best will be returned to you in full. I love you both.”
In what ways will you give your best today?
How will you lead differently, or better, this week?
Have a great week!!
Bryan Yager
“Expanding Your Capacity for Success”
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