If you're anything like me, you spend your days wishing to be the best version of yourself. You're constantly thriving for self-improvement. You have aspirations and goals. You're motivated to learn. Which is all great...

But you also berate yourself when you find that you're not meeting your self-imposed expectations of what your best state entails.

And when I speak of being your best it can mean anything: from your general state, to your career, social life, relationships, hobbies, etc.

Sentences like the following haunt your thoughts:

You only managed ten push-ups but you've done thirty in the past.

You only wrote 100 words today, when you occasionally write multiple chapters a day.

You only sold one product versus dozens.

You came in second in the race, but you won the grand prize last time.

Whether we like it or not, most of us are constantly in a state of competition because of that four letter word. We want the best and we want to be the best. If we're not competing with our peers, than we're competing with ourselves. And when you're in a competition with the wrong intentions you place yourself at risk for disappointment and loss.

All this because we seemed to have lost the meaning of our best.

Time to redefine your best.

I want you to take a second and silence that berating voice in your head.

Silence those words urging productivity. Mute that nagging voice reminding you that you're behind schedule or likely to face failure.

Then take a breath and listen closely: You can not do better than your best.

Your best at any given moment will look different than it has in the past or will in the future.

I firmly believe that with skill development and experience your best changes through time. But you can never do better than your current best.

It's okay that your best looks different everyday. Just because you hit a certain goal one day, and don't another, doesn't mean that you're not doing your best. It doesn't mean that your failing to reach your full potential. If you gave it your all and didn't see the same results, it only means that you lived it with different conditions.

If I had an awful cold with a clogged nose and nasty cough, I probably wouldn't run a marathon as quick as I usually would. I probably wouldn't run it all, because I hate running. Alas, this is only a metaphor and my stamina doesn't change what I'm trying to prove.

The point is, after that marathon, I could choose to sit in the corner of my roon and pout. Pout because maybe I came in last. Maybe it took me ten minutes longer than the last time.

But while I perhaps ran the marathon faster in the past, or have the potential to run it faster in the future, neither means that I did not perform in the best of capabilities during that specific race.

So, allow yourself to rest. Be more forgiving of yourself. You can't run at the same productivity level every day, because shit happens. Illnesses, mental or physical, construction, distractions, unlucky twists of events, etc., can all happen unexpectedly.

So rather than berating yourself for not doing your best, take a moment and reflect. Ask yourself if you performed to the best of your capacity in that current moment? Because if you did, then really it would be unrealistic to expect better. Don't be so harsh on yourself.