MOTIVATION: Is This The BEST You Can Do?

Think about your last workout. What if, after that workout, I asked you “was that the best you could do?” What would your answer be?

During the Nixon presidency, a speech writer by the name of Winston Lord was writing a speech for Henry Kissinger & President Nixon. According to an interview, Kissinger asked Lord for a draft of his speech. The next day Kissinger asked Lord, “Is this the best you can do?” Lord replied “Well, I thought so, but I can try one more time.”

Lord turned in another speech and Kissinger gave the same response, “Is this the best you can do”. Well, this went on eight times – Kissinger asking Lord if this was the best he can do and Lord giving another crack at it. Finally, on the 9th time, when asked the same question Lord replied “I can’t possibly improve one more word”. Kissinger’s response was, “In that case, now I’ll read it.”

Giving Your Best

Obviously, Kissinger wanted to know that Winston Lord gave him his very best work. This made me think about whether or not “this” is the best “I” can do. Can you imagine if God swooped you up and asked you that question? I would be BEGGING for another chance to come back and do things better. I would want to redo many things. I’d want to treat my body better, be a better wife, be a better friend, be a better boss, be more patient, be more loving, be more giving (the list would go on and on). All in all, I would have to be honest and say “No, this is NOT the best I can do”.

Can you imagine how much harder we worked if we worked for God himself? I bet you wouldn’t cheat on your diet or skip a workout if HE was your trainer! However, that is what he asks us to do – He asks us to treat everything we do as if we are doing it for Him. I think we only apply that principle to the areas WE feel are most important. Yet, scripture doesn’t say “in SOME things” it says “in WHATEVER you do – that means EVERYthing”. Yep, you guessed it – that means the way you act in traffic to what food you choose to eat.

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men…” Colossians 3:23

So, if you think you can have great work ethic at home, but a crappy one on the job – think again. If you think you can not cheat on your taxes, but cheat on your diet – the answer is no. We should strive for excellence in ALL we do, whether we are managing our bank account or our weight.

Do-Overs

Every day we wake up, we get to “write a new draft”. We get to look at yesterday and ask ourself the question “is this the best you can do?” – and we get a chance to make corrections. If we treat every single day like this, our life will be very different – and it would be far from mediocre.

I challenge you this week to treat everything you do as if you are being tested – like you are running a race and going for a new PR. Your work, your workouts, your diet, your family, your decisions – make them your best today.