This one seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? I mean, "Always do your best" has been told to us from time immemorial, or for me since Father Dowdell would take me aside, my lungs filled with pain, defeated that I couldn't keep up in cross country, and he would say "my friend, my friend, as long as you are doing your best that's all that matters. From my vantage point, you are doing your best. What others do, this doesn't matter." That sage wisdom has stuck with me since, but doing your best, every time is damn hard. Let's change our perspective a bit to see if we can't "up our game" just a little bit every day.
Here are the Four Agreements again:
- Always be IMPECCABLE with your WORD
- Don't take anything PERSONALLY
- Don't make ASSUMPTIONS
- Always do your BEST
The Fourth Agreement is about taking action. Each action we consider we have a decision to make. When we wash the dishes, how well will we wash them? When we brush our teeth, how well will we brush them? When we drive our car, how well will we drive our car? Each and every action we take can be our best.
Our best isn't always the same. Some mornings we wake up because of that damn lemon square we had the night before. Our fitful sugar slanted sleep puts us in a fog that prevents us from delivering at the same level right out of the gate. Yet, there is "a best" we can bring, even in that scenario.
My practice is to execute every action with INTENTION. If I did this every time, I would do my best every time. AS time goes on, I do this more and more. Therefore I am doing my best, more and more. I simply do a short 1-2 minute silent meditation to release TENSION, then I reflect on the activity I am about to embark on and decide how I will present myself, and I set INTENTION. I don't think I've ever practiced this before I wash dishes, but I do practice it at least 50% of the time before I get behind the wheel. And I do it nearly 100% of the time before I write this BLOG.
Taking actions and expecting a reward is not an enlightened path, nor does it promote full engagement and joy. For example, working for the weekend is not in alignment with Always doing your BEST. Working just for a paycheck and getting through runs out of gas and places you in a comfort zone that you might not ever escape from. Regardless of your work, you can make every action one of excellence. The reward is simply the satisfaction of doing your best.
Doing your best means accepting yourself when you fall short. If we never reflect, evaluate, re-imagine, and improve, we are dead. Or, as my colleague and mentor Charly Caldwell say: "Check up, Set up, Level up."
Making every aspect of our lives into a ritual is the target for achieving full life engagement and joy. To ritualize everything from the mundane to challenging, we are manifesting the present. We align ourselves to the NOW. Buy not engaging in the present, and the now the path leads to self-pity, anxiety, suffering. Doing your best every time and living in the present with full engagement is achievable. Through this practice, we make adherence to the first three agreements possible.
