Why Your Best May Not Be Good Enough, and Why It May Be a Part of The Process

One of the hardest pills I have ever had to swallow was that maybe my best wasn’t truly my best or good enough to get the outcome I wanted. 

I want to be clear in saying that this is not the same as saying “I am not good enough” or “not worthy”

This has nothing to do with worthiness and everything to do with effort. 

It’s a hard pill to swallow when you’re exhausted, tired, and it feels like you’re doing the absolute best that you can. 

It’s the last thing anyone wants to hear especially our ego which is often our first line of defense who says “I’m doing my best” and “I’m doing everything  I can” and more commonly “I don’t know why I just can’t (fill in the blank)” 

For me, I have big ambitious goals of building a place that can employ life long career coaches who make a GREAT Marin County living. I believe that this will help us be the best at serving our community and not only helping those who no one else has been able to help thus far achieve greater health and fitness but also position us in a place to better help the underserved. 

It has been 5.6 years since Emily and I took over CFN. Some days I struggle because all of my effort and exhaustion has not as yet brought to fruition the vision I hold in my mind. And I’ll be damned if I didn’t think I was giving it my all. 

However you know what? The simple truth is that every year I have learned to do something different and better, and if I look back at who I was last year I can say that indeed my best wasn’t my best or if it was, it wasn’t good enough to move me closer towards my goal. 

You can take the above example and apply it to your fitness goals, weight loss etc. 

You may feel you are doing your best, but why aren’t the results coming? 

Are you truly giving it your all in workouts? And I don’t mean going faster, but are you being intentional in your movement and feeling the muscles working or being present/focused on the task you are doing?

Are you optimizing (the best you can) for sleep? Please note that this one can be hard depending on what season of life you are in and this is not to be unsympathetic in any way at all because as a dad to two littles I get it! 

It is not an invitation to judge you but an invitation to offer you to take ownership of the results in your life whether they be gym related, health related, career related, financial, relational etc. 

If we want greater results than the results we are currently experiencing, then we may need to raise the ceiling  on what our best is. 

This doesn’t need to be a drastic change, it can be as simple as aiming for 5 extra min of sleep a night for a week and then 5 more the next week. 

It can be as simple as showing up 10 min before class starts to do that accessory exercise or strength exercise that you know makes your knee not hurt and feel better when you do it at least 1x a week. 

That’s how we raise the ceiling on what our best is. 

The belief that we can coupled with the smallest amount of effort. The right amount of effort. 

We learn from our mistakes, we dust off and keep going. 

And before you know it our best is not our best, it is better than we ever imagined it could be. 

-Michael