Always Do Your Best

Last month I reviewed with you The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. Agreement # 1 was to be impeccable with your word. Agreement #2 is "Don’t take things personally." Agreement #3 taught us not to assume. The final agreement is, "Always Do Your Best." It’s what we tell our children. It’s what our parents taught us. It’s what our mentors tell us to do. Always do your best, no more no less, Mr. Ruiz tells us.

Doing your best doesn’t mean comparing yourself to other’s bests. Doing your best is comparing yourself to yourself. It’s really just between you and God (as Mother Theresa said so wonderfully once). You aren’t comparing yourself to your co-workers, your sister, your friends. You aren’t comparing yourself to anyone. Doing your best simply means waking up each day, looking at the day before you, and doing your best at each activity. Maybe that means preparing a nutritious breakfast for your children as opposed to a Pop Tart in the toaster. Perhaps doing your best means giving just a little bit more of yourself at work rather than watching the clock tick by till it’s time to leave. Doing your best might mean accepting your spouse for who they are rather than being overcritical of all the things they didn’t get done that day. Doing your best could mean doing nothing…. most of us aren’t very good at down time, which the body and soul very much need.

A few years back I wrote the following. To me it’s a good summary of this agreement. Bottom line folks: you know that you know that you know what doing your best is for YOU. It’s different for all of us. For some, our best is running a 4 minute mile. For others it’s walking a one hour mile. My suggestion is to wake up each day and commit to yourself that whatever you are presented with that day, that you’ll simply do your best. I’m very sure that at the end of a day of doing your best, you’ll get a great night sleep.

Make better choices · Exercise · Relax · Learn to say NO · Pray and spend more time in nature and with God · Spend more quantity and quality time with your kids and family · Shut junk television off and save 10 hours each week · Listen to uplifting music · Give more of yourself · Give more of your money · If you don’t feel it, you aren’t giving enough · Give more of your time · Just give more · Stop complaining · Stop worrying (doesn’t help anyway) · Remember how blessed we are to live in America · Focus on the positive · Choose to be happy · Love your life · Love your wife · Love your husband · Tell them so · Give thanks for your home · Give thanks for your job · Give thanks for your freedom · Eat better · Cut out saturated and partially hydrogenated fats · Eat more fruits and vegetables · Eat good quality proteins like salmon, chicken, and beans · Get good quality fat in your diet, like almonds, walnuts and olive oil · Read more · Pick one book that inspires you and read it · Then do it again next month · Listen to more inspiring tapes/CDs in your car · Read Norman Vincent Peale’s, The Power of Positive Thinking · Walk your dog more · Do something to strengthen your muscles · Do some push-ups · Every Day · Write that letter you’ve been meaning to write · Live by the golden rule and do unto others as you’d have done to you · Give what you think is your absolute best effort… then give just a bit more. Here’s the bottom line folks — You’ve been given one life. It’s short. It will be as meaningful as you make it. Do your best to live and live well.

215/752-1420 WWW.WSCENTERS.COM