Today Is Always A New Day

There are going to be days when nothing seems to go right. No matter what you do or what you try, you can't seem to get things to work the way you want them to work. Sometimes, shit just happens. It happens to everyone. It will be frustrating. It will be aggravating. It will difficult to keep your head in the game. We all have days like this and how we react to them is what separates the good from the great.

Forget about these days as soon as they end. Move on. Start the next day by living in the moment. Don't spend any time thinking about the past and just push forward. It's the same advice many of the athletes in the Olympics get...if you have one bad performance, you have to immediately put it behind you and just focus on what you are doing now. The people who can do this are the ones who can achieve amazing things.

Think about it. Are you going to be able to do your best work when you are still thinking about and fuming over the things that went wrong yesterday? Are you going to be able to do your best work when you are wondering what you needed to do better last week? Are you going to be able to do your best work when you continue to think about what you should have done differently in the past? No. You just can't. To do your best work, you have to be living in the moment and you have to focus on the task at hand, nothing else.

We are all going to have bad days. Things are going to go wrong. We aren't always going to accomplish what we want to accomplish. Sometimes, something isn't going to work the way we want it to work. There will be frustrating days, but we just have to get through them and then start again. We don't have to let these days bring us down. We don't have to let these days affect the days to come. Forget about them and try again.

Shit happens...how we deal with it is what really matters. Don't let today be ruined by what happened yesterday.

Think Positive

I have spent much of my life telling people I was a realist. Truth be known, I have actually spent much of my life as a pessimist. I always expected the worst to happen, the other shoe to drop or things to get messed up. I looked for, and by consequence often found, the things that would continue to fuel this pessimism.

I would tell people that it was better to expect the worst for if it happened, you would be prepared. If something better happened, then you would be all the more happy because you were expecting the worst. It doesn't really work this way. When you expect the worst, you put in less than your best because you don't think you can do it. Why do your best if your best isn't going to change the outcome? Most of us won't. When we expect the worst thing to happen, we convince our mind it will and steal our ability to do great things. By expecting the worst, you also limit the amount of happiness you experience each day. It's hard to be upbeat and happy if you are always waiting for something bad to happen.

If we attack life with a positive outlook, things can be so much different. When we know, not just think, we can do anything, we are more likely to do whatever it takes to make things work. We expect things to work and will put in our best to make it so. When they don't, we are more likely to figure out what went wrong and try again instead of throwing up our hands and saying I knew it wouldn't work. When we expect good things to happen, we spend more time being upbeat and happy, which allows us to roll with the punches and deal with things when they go wrong. It's a cycle that always ends with us being positive and doing our best work.

For many of us, it isn't always easy to come at life from a positive outlook, especially if we have been pessimistic in the past. We have to constantly remind ourselves to not be negative and focus on looking at the good around us instead of the bad. We have to actively work to not complain and try to remind the people around us to be more positive, too. It takes work and it doesn't happen over night, but if we remain conscious to our thoughts and actions, it is possible to move from being a pessimist to an optimist. It is definitely worth the work.

Let It Go

Walking around with built-up bitterness is a recipe for disaster. When we feel slighted or screwed over by someone we will often hold resentment towards this person for years to come. We will constantly talk about how we really dislike them and will let others know how we were screwed over.

Everything the person does is viewed through a lens of negativity. We assume every decision is one based on malice and bad intent. We may even think that anything done now is still an attempt to one up us or make us look bad. Some of us will struggle the rest of our life trying to prove the other person wrong. 

The sad part is we can never, ever do our best work when we are doing it out of spite or in an attempt to show someone they were wrong about us. We can only do our best from a place of peace. Our motivation to do great work should not come from a place of negativity, like proving someone wrong. We will all do this from time to time, but when the past wrong constantly drives us, we will go nowhere good.

As hard as it sounds and as hard as it is to do, we have to let go of these negative emotions. They are doing nothing good for us and will only continue to bring us down. Yes, the person may have screwed us over. Yes, they might still be doing things in an effort to discredit us. Let them worry about the negativity they are bringing to their work. If this is really their goal, nothing good will come of their emotions, either. We have to be the bigger person and just let go. We should do the work we want to do and not worry what anyone else thinks, especially people we don’t like.

Bitterness can only be a driving force for so long. It feels like it is pushing us forward and helping accomplish things, but in the end, it will only lead to burnout and disappointment. Eliminate the bitterness and we will be able to find motivation from positive sources.

Think about why you do the work you do. There may be some bitter motivator, but for many of us, we do the work because we want to make a difference. We do things we are good at. We do things we love. We have a vested interest in what we do. In any case, the motivation behind your best work is always going to be positive motivation. Forget the past and move towards the future while living in the moment. Getting over the past isn’t going to happen overnight and is going to take time, but as we continue to work towards it, we will feel better.

There is nothing we can do to change what has happened and very little we can do to change people’s minds or attitudes. But, we can leave the game they are playing and play our own. No one says we have to get along with everyone. We have to live our life the way we see fit and there will be some people who just don’t figure in to it. Instead of letting them ruin your day, your week or longer, just move on with your life. Eliminate the bitterness and let the positive motivation allow us to do the best work we have inside.

Battling Negativity

I'll be the first to admit, some days it is just harder to attack the work with my best. It could be that I don't feel well or I am frustrated by something or someone or I am just out of sorts. On these days, I have to be extra sensitive to where my mind goes as it is very easy to become negative.

When any of us become negative in our thoughts, problems seem to compound. We start taking things personally, we are incapable of doing our best work and we often become more and more negative. When one thing goes wrong, we start seeing more and more things go wrong. When this happens, we have to instantly recognize it and work to pull ourselves out of this negative mindset.

Each person has their own ways of trying to eliminate the negativity as they feel it creep steadily in. Some people will meditate, some people exercise, some people just move around for a while, some people do breathing exercises, some people find ways to laugh and some people will do any number of other things. What works for you when you start to feel the negativity taking hold?

Do Your Best Work

What would happen if everyone decided to do their best work today? What more could we accomplish if everyone was on, everyone was active, everyone was engrossed and everyone was giving the work all of their attention? We would be able to accomplish anything.

Now, the chances of this happening are slim. You have no control over everyone around you and you can't force them to do their best each and every day. We hope we are surrounded by people who are doing the job because it is what they want to be doing, but we know this isn't always true. Everyone has their own motivations and we can't change them.

We can choose to do our best work each and every day. We can control this part of the equation. Yes, we are never going to be perfect and there will be days when our best isn't coming, but if we try, really try to give our best every day, we will have more good days than bad. How much better would your work be if you just strive to do your best every time? How much happier would you be?

No one said it was going to be easy. We all have tasks that drain our drive and make us want to shove spoons into our eyes. We all have good days and bad days. The great among us realize this and still strive every morning to give their best work during the day. Each and every day they decide that whatever they are working on is worth their best work. No more and no less. Lead by example and start today. Give it your all and do your best work. Then, do it again tomorrow and the next day and the next and the next...