It’s not being the best that counts, it’s being your best WHEN it counts that really matters. If a runner qualifies for the Olympics, no one cares whether he was the first or last qualifier–what matters is that he qualified!
If that runner goes to the Olympics with the perspective that he’s the ‘worst’ one there, wouldn’t you agree that his chances of success decrease quite a bit? He’d be more worried about the past that got him there than the present and what he wants to achieve in this very moment! Have you ever caught yourself doing something similar? Why concern yourself with the level of performance you had yesterday–you can’t drive a car navigating through the rearview mirrors! Look forward and ask how well you can perform today.
Thankfully, life isn’t exactly like the Olympics–you will usually get more than just one solitary chance to improve. You have the chance today to keep getting better, but that can ONLY be done if you give yourself permission to be as amazing as you are. Focusing on past failures is a way of telling yourself “This is as good as I’m allowed to be,” and that’s just not true.
What will you give yourself permission to be today?
Image is W.H. Lipinger, Chairman, Olympic Games Committee (with starter’s pistol), and Olympic champion Archie Hahn
Image from Charles Lucas, The Olympic Games 1904. St. Louis, MO: Woodward and Tiernan, 1905. (Image is in the public domain, courtesy of the Library of Congress)
