Every morning I answer a question in my planner: “Who needs me on my A-game this morning”. Every morning I include my wife and daughter. On work days I include my team and others I may be working with on a project that day. If I’m going to interact with particular friends that day, I note that as well. I also always include my future and present self (I deserve me doing the best I can for me now and for me 10 years from now).
Does this mean that I’m awesome every day for those who I write down in answer to that question? Hell no. Who can do that? Nobody.
James Clear wrote in a recent issue of his weekly newsletter “It’s better to do less than you hoped than nothing at all. No zero days.”
Some days I am totally on my game and I bring a serious A-game for myself and others. Some days I get out of bed only to want to crawl back in. Most days are somewhere in between.
On the totally awesome days I try to think about why I was able to be so on my game, but I also try to figure out why I have a day where I want to get back in bed (did I eat poorly the night before or stay up too late?).
More often than not, I have days where I’m great, or at least good, in one or a few areas, but not all areas of my life. I might be super productive at work, but not get up from my chair enough during the day. Or I might have a great workout in the morning, but barely make it to my morning team meeting and not be as focused as I should be because that great workout took up a lot of my time.
What I try to do, as James Clear says in his quote, is when I know I can’t bring my absolute best ever to everything I do that day I bring what I can, but I try to always bring something. Maybe I only get in a 20 minute walk instead of a 45 minute workout so that I can get to a meeting with enough time to settle in and bring my focus. Maybe there’s something that doesn’t really need to be all done by the end of my day so I can take time to get up and move around (of course there is!).
I can’t bring the best I can ever be every day for anyone, including myself. I can only bring the best that I can be on that day, so that’s what I try to bring.
