Want It More

"Decide that you want it more than you are afraid of it." - Bill Cosby

What do you want?  Do you want to learn new skills?  Do you want to change a habit?   do you want to meet someone? Do you want to try something you have never tried before?  Do you want to buy something?  Do you want to go somewhere?  Do you want to change employment?  Do you want to start your own business?  Do you want to share with someone? 

We all have wants.  Wants may appear in many forms.  We may get an idea, have a dream, feel a yearning, make a wish or see something we hadn't noticed or thought about before.  Some days they wait patiently to be acknowledged.  Other days they demand to be noticed, felt or acted upon.  Rarely, once acknowledged, if not acted upon, they will slip away and be replaced by a new want. More often, if not acted upon, wants have a tendency to make us feel uneasy, unhappy or uncomfortable with what we presently have or what we are presently doing. They push us to try, experiment, move, reach out, expand, learn and grow.

There may be many reasons we do not act to fulfill our wants and wishes.  One of the biggest reasons I have heard from people I know, and I face myself, is fear.  I have heard fear defined as "False Evidence Appearing Real".  My Merriam Webster Dictionary defines fear as "an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat". However you define pain, it is something that often gets in our way of acting on or fulfilling our wants and wishes to have, to be, to improve or to accomplish something of worth, value or excellence.  

The advice above has come to mind many times over the past year as I have been faced with challenges and decisions.  I wanted a new home of our own.  My biggest fear was that I would get locked into a mortgage and then be unable to pay for it in the future because of a change in income.  I had to decide that I wanted a home we could call our own more than I was afraid of the possibility of change of employment or means of supporting my family.  As a result we were blessed to find a wonderful home we all enjoy.   Just this month I had to decide joining a local writing group and learning from other writers was more important to me than the fear of rejection or misunderstanding. 
As a result I enjoyed a wonderful writer's conference and met some people I am eager to have more contact with. 

I encourage you today to empower yourself. Look at the things you want, decide what is most important to you right now and then push through the wall of fear that has blocked your way.  Want it more than you are afraid. You deserve to enjoy the pleasures, growth and excitement that will come your way.  . 

Doing Your Best

"If you are doing your best, you won't have any time to worry about failure." - H. Jackson Brown.

The first thing I note in this quote is that we have to be "doing".   It doesn't say we can just be wishing, hoping, waiting or trying.  It says we must be doing our best. We must be engaged in something. 

Second, it doesn't define what best is.  It says "your best" and the only one that can measure "your best" is you. Every person is unique. Everyone has their own personal measure of when they are best in a particular area. Even individually, best is not the same in all areas of our life.  One definition for best is "that which is the most excellent, outstanding, or desirable". Anytime you find yourself saying "I can do better" take it as a personal clue you are not performing at your best.  Then step up, do more and enjoy the pleasure of feeling you are outstanding.   

Third, if you are doing your best you cannot be experiencing failure.  Best is defined as "that which is the most excellent, outstanding, or desirable."   Failure is defined as "lack of success" or "omission of expected or required action".   Excellence and lack cannot exist at the same time.  Anytime you are doing your best, by your own definition, you are succeeding.  If you are doing your best you are acting excellent, which means you are performing expected or required action.   

Remember, that the word best is often a comparative term.  Be careful to avoid comparing yourself to others.  As I said, no one can define "your best" but you. No two people can be best at the same thing, but two people can be doing their best in the same area and both be considered excellent.  It is okay for two people to be doing their best and not be at the same level of excellence.  One person, such as a concert pianist,  may have had years of practice, opportunities and skill building experience and his personal best is personally defined at a high level of performance.  The second person, a beginning music student,  may be taking the first steps to developing the skill or talent and his best is exactly what he is presently doing with the learning and practice he now has.

Don't be discouraged by people who say you can never be or be at "your best".  Remember that "you best" is also a measure of where you are at one particular moment.  Being best right now does not mean you cannot or should not improve or change.  The definition of better as "more excellently or effectively" offers the hope.  You may be excellent at what you are doing today.  Tomorrow or the next, with time and practice you may become more excellent and your personal best may reach a new lever.  On the other hand, tomorrow may bring challenges and different circumstances. Your benchmark may shift to a lower level, but still be considered excellent. The track star running on a dry field may have a record of two minutes for today, but his best time may be closer to three minutes tomorrow and still be considered excellent or his best because tomorrow the track was muddy and slippery after the rain,

My encouragement to you is to strive to be your best at whatever you are doing or whoever you are at this time   Don't worry if you do not perform or act as someone else you see or hear about.   Decide each day what is your best for that day, and enjoy being or doing the best you can in any moment.  Look at your accomplishments today.  Remember success and failure cannot coexist.