Trying

So I tell my son to all ways do his best. This is good advice but very hard to uphold as a value. It is just so easy to do just enough. The problem is that just enough is generally not good enough. Sure it will get you through in the short term but in the long run it will come back on you.

This is something I know and have experienced both first and second hand. I will not give any examples.

To work at the limit of your abilities is one sure way of extending your abilities. That is what practice is all about. This is the message that I know down to my bones but find it hard to express. It often takes only a tiny additional effort and thought to do your best, for example, practicing a piece of music. If you just go through the motions you gain little. If you concentrate and try to play a piece better than you ever have before improvement will come quickly. The difference in effort is virtually zero. As a bonus, by concentrating, the time will go quicker and the level of satisfaction will be higher.

I guess there are two very different outcomes for people with this regard. Those that will eventually reach their true potential and those that will not. I know far more of the later.

The thing that troubles me is that I know lots of intelligent people that are doing very little with their life. People that should be doing great and interesting things. Instead they find themselves in low paid, dead end jobs. Some of them are happy – excellent, others are frustrated.

This is a vital message for life. The problem is I think the only way you can learn it is from experience and by then it can be late.

Repeat the following mantra 50 times a day: “I will always do my best”. After a while you will be unable to do anything but.

If you add “If I see something that needs doing I will do it” you will live a very interesting life. Or at least justify domestic blindness.