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The only person in the whole wide world who knows how much effort you applied and whether you truly did your best is YOU!
Warrior excellence means calling forth the best from yourself. This is innately fulfilling. Living in integrity and doing your best is honoring your personal values and code of conduct. Those who strive diligently towards excellence, integrity, and high standards are generally happier, more financially successful, and more well-balanced, especially for the long term. Those who compromise excellence, integrity, and standards may appear to win in the short term, and they will ultimately face consequences and conflicts.
While the external world offers benchmarks of excellence, integrity, and standards, the real test is inside you. You know inside when you have really given something your all. You know when you have crossed an integrity line for yourself. You know when you have lowered a standard. It all comes down to you.
When you compromise your excellence, integrity, or standards, the result is a feeling inside that tells you something is off. Sometimes you attempt to fool yourself or are innocently seduced to compromise a value, and you learn to justify your actions by saying “the end justifies the means” or “others are doing it.” Perhaps you feel that your action is your only choice. Any action like this will begin a cycle of lowering standards. The cost is that it will move you further away from your true self, your ultimate purpose, long- lasting success, and your sense of fulfillment. This is one of the most essential ingredients to living the Warrior life you choose.
The first part of coming from your best is having personal integrity. It is to be true to yourself in all things. Be true to the very best that is in you. Being true to yourself means doing what you do in an excellent fashion. Integrity is demonstrated internally by personal honesty and externally by the quality of your actions.
Instead of winning, what if from now on your objective were to choose to do the very best of which you are capable? How much better would you perform? More importantly, how much better would you feel? What would your life be like if you refused to settle merely for winning—chasing material items, chasing accomplishments—and insisted instead on the peace of mind and the self-satisfaction that comes from knowing you have made the effort to do your best?
So much of what passes for success is a matter of how you appear to other people. You might be able to fool others with less than your best effort. You will always know whether you gave your best effort. This is the truth coaches Wooden, Brown, and Lombardi recommended we all live by.
Your decision to become excellent at what you do and to always give your best is a major key to great success. It is also the foundation of high levels of self-esteem and self-respect. When you are really good at what you do, you feel wonderful about yourself. It affects your entire personality and all of your relationships with other people when you know you are at the top of your game. It is the core of your Warrior greatness.
What is Warrior greatness? Warrior greatness is living and being your best. It is enjoying the challenge even when things become very difficult. Warriors are competitors. They understand and know it is exhilarating to be involved in something that is very challenging. They embrace it.
Are you doing your best? Or are you merely competing, com- paring, and scoring yourself based on what others do? If so, why? All you have to do is perform at your best. You and only you control what you are doing. It is a choice. You have the power to do so. Start right now.
