Nobody who ever gave his best, regretted it. – George Halas
Everest on the left, Lhotse on the right. Are you ready to give it your best shot?
What does that mean?
Having done a Vince Lombardi quote about 2 weeks ago, I thought it time to give Papa Bear equal time. (I’m a Bears fan, what can I say!).
I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone who, on their death-bed, said they wish they hadn’t put so much effort into doing the best they could. They might regret some of the actions they took, or failed to take, but taking your best shot, that’s just the natural thing to do.
Doing your best, giving it your all, that is what living life fully is all about. While this quote is from a sports great, I believe that it applies to all the aspects of life. Would you want to love a little bit, or give it your best shot? Do you want to have just a tiny little bit of fun, or give it your best shot? I know how I’d answer both those questions, how about you?
Why is effort important?
As a professional football player, coach, and owner, he had plenty of opportunity to see people give their best effort. He also had to watch people play who put out less than their best. As with all sports, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. When you win, how hard you played doesn’t seem to matter so much.
But when you lose because people were slacking, well that’s not just not a very a good feeling. If you gave it your best, and held nothing back, even if you lose you feel better than when you were slacking. Learn from what didn’t work, yes. Plan to do better next week, yes. But regrets? Nope, I’ve got none.
Where can I apply this in my life?
This is a fascinating question. Usually, my biggest problem with giving my all is … fear. Fear of failure, and fear of success. Fear of failure is fairly straight forward, you don’t want to talk trash and then crash. You don’t want to look foolish for having tried the impossible or look weak for not finishing what looked easy.
Fear of success, on the other hand, is a two headed beast (for me, at least). There is the fear that if you succeed, you will be asked to continue to pull rabbits out of thin air again and again and again. “So you climbed Mount Everest in just three weeks? Great! I want you to take a week off, so you’re rested enough to do it again!”
There is also the fear of emptiness, of not having anything left to do. It’s the eternal question, “What next?” Normally, you take on the next big thing. However, this is the same kind of fear that you might have after climbing Mount Everest. Been there, done that, now what?
For me, these fears often cause me to hold a little (or a lot) back. Even something simple like rolling or tumbling, I fail most often when I hold a little back, just in case I crash. It’s almost a self-fulfilling prophesy.
For me, fear is overcome by confidence, and confidence is built by certainty. I do research, find a safe way to practice or imitate what I want to do, and then work on it until I get my confidence up.
You’ll have to find out what (if anything) causes you to (sometimes) hold back. If you don’t have any fear, you should be able to put forth your best effort every time, without reservation. I envy you. But don’t be shy on my account, get out there and knock them dead!
If you have a problem, as I do, you will need to identify what is holding you back. Grab some paper and write down the last few times you felt you didn’t give your best effort to a task. Do you notice a pattern? If so, that’s definitely something to work on. If not, perhaps you need a bigger sample, or do you already have an idea on which you want to work?
If you’re still unsure on what to do, the best thing I can think of is to get busy with what ever is holding you back on your biggest “thing” right now. Is that a relationship? Is it something at work? Is it a project at home? Is it a skill you’re trying to learn? Identify the thing (or things) that are holding you back and work on getting past them.
No, you are not allowed to play helpless. “I don’t know how.” is an excuse, not a reason. If you truly don’t know, search the web for information, ask a friend or two, find an expert (or someone you think might have a clue). Now get busy! It won’t be real until you take action, so take the first step.
The point is it will take effort to get over the difficulty that’s keeping you from your putting forth your best effort. You only get one shot at life, give your best, no regrets!
From: Twitter, @deanboedeker
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/georgehala160094.html
Photo by stevehicks
