Life Lessons: Be Your Best

“Keep being your best.” It’s a mainstay in my conversations with my kids. But why?

Our character, who we are at our core, touches every aspect of our lives and the world around us. How we treat others. How we react to unfairness. How we deal with disappointments. How we deal with challenges. To live in peace, excel in our God-given desires, and improve the world, we must always strive to be our best.

It was said best decades ago: having a strong character is doing the right thing when no one is looking. It’s being a trash picker-upper, a cart-returner, and a responsibility taker. Even in the absence of consequences, we think of others. We cannot lift this world up if we are willing to lie, cheat, steal, ignore, or otherwise advantage ourselves at the expense of others. At the core of strong character is trustworthiness. As a child, if I thought I could avoid the shame of bad behavior, I’d lie. One of the worst feelings I get in my gut is owning up to my own bad choice. We must do it anyway. We cannot build strong relationships (absolutely vital to every aspect of life) if others cannot unequivocally trust that our word is good and our moral compass precise. I think most people turn away from the obvious character-busters of lying, cheating, or stealing. But being our best goes deeper. In addition to doing the hard right vs. easy wrong, we must also rise above our innate desire for fairness – not an easy thing to do for us right-fighters.

Our society, and even human nature itself, draws us toward fairness.

If crossed, our first instinct is complaining or retaliation. Let me be clear, we must always empower our kids to stand up against bullying or mistreatment. We must encourage them to use their strong voice and rid negative people from their lives. But, we should also teach our children to never compromise their character at the hands of others. Here’s the deal. Life isn’t fair. Misdirecting energy trying to make it so prevents us from being our best. We all encounter crummy circumstances and crummy people. Our Lord calls us to turn a cheek. Complaining, ruminating, or retaliation is not productive.

A former colleague of mine received public accolade for her volunteer work. At the same time, the same management team, who signed off on my weekly volunteer work, offered me nada. Hidden agendas were at play. Focusing on that inequity would have only led to bitterness, poorer work product, and ultimately moved me further from my goal of a strong performance rating. It takes internally strong, fierce people to rise above perceived injustice and the negativity of others, which in our online society, is more prevalent than ever. Friends turn on you out of the blue? Critics firing up at your success? Coach’s kid getting more playing time? We can ruminate or we can rise. Eagles can soar higher than crows. Eagles must come down in order to fight with a crow.

Let’s teach our kids to soar high and let the crows flounder below.

Let’s teach them to keep their head up. Keep working hard. Keep being their best. Trust God to handle negative people and situations. Being our best not only enables us to skirt draining negativity, but also propels us toward excellence as we suck others in with Dyson-like magnetism.

Everyone (friends, employers, co-workers, neighbors - literally everyone) wants to be around and work with people who are good. Those whose word is as good as gold. Would you sign up for a friend who talks behind your back? Certainly not. Would you like to work with someone willing to do anything to get ahead? I don’t think so. How about someone ruthlessly reliable and dripping with integrity? Of course! Be your best and others will want to be around you, work with you, and help you reach your goals!

So, while it might be easier to toss the wrapper on the ground, tell a little lie, or ruminate at unfairness, we can be better. Being our best casts a bright, life-enhancing light that inspires others. Compromising our character dims that light.

Encourage your kids to shine brightly. God created them to soar.

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