by This is the second in a series “On Being Your Best,” by Kittle’s CEO Eric Easter. If you’re new to the series, you might want to start here and here.
Being Our Best does not only manifest itself when we win, when we succeed, when things go our way, when someone tells us we did a wonderful job or when we have the right answer. Being Our Best is not relegated to fleeting moments, to events, a given result. Being Our Best is our natural state of being, but it happens only when we are letting ourselves be who we really are — without interference from the thoughts and feelings that breed distrust, fear, worry, anxiety, all the Noise that so often clutters the mind. The real victory, the win that matters most, is being who we really are, letting our natural rhythm happen. This trumps any single result, no matter how important it may seem at the time. Sacrificing who we are in the quest for a particular result, means we fall short of what really matters.
Whatever the result — win, lose, draw — it matters infinitely less than having achieved it by letting ourselves be who we really are. For this is what life is all about. There is no greater success than this.
Results are a function of Being Our Best, of being who we really are. Being Our Best, being who we really are is not a function of results. When we are Being Our Best, the best possible result will follow. Things fall into place better than they otherwise would. Will we always win? No. Will we win more often? Yes. Will we win at what matters most? Yes.
We can have a great result without Being Our Best — there are usually many factors that affect a given result. Would the result be better if we were Being Our Best? Most likely. Would the path to the great result have been better if we were Being Our Best, being who we really are? Most definitely.
Being Our Best leaves us wide-eyed, clear-headed, free of Noise as we make the most of whatever life brings. Our response will Be Our Best. It will be the best we have; it flows from all that we are up to this moment in time. That is enough. What more can there be? No need to question, think about, try to know and control moments yet to come. This moment is what matters, and we have all that we need within us to deal with it.
Being Our Best is letting loose the entirety of our knowledge, wisdom, experiences, learnings, natural abilities, all that we know in response to this moment. We are uninterrupted by the Noise that distracts and clutters our mind with unattainable demands.
We are human beings. We are fallible. We are imperfect. This is who we really are. Yet so often the Noise tells us to be other than this; to expect perfection, to know and control what cannot be. This is not who we really are. This is not how life works. This is not natural. This may be our unfortunate normal, but this is not natural. This creates stress, anxiety, worry and fear. Bad habits develop in our quest to cope. It is natural to make mistakes. We will fail. Being Our Best is accepting this and responding to the loss by letting ourselves learn, grow and improve.
Being Our Best is separating ourselves from the Noise that insists we make ourselves and life something we are not. When we Stop the Noise, we are left with all that we are, our natural rhythm. For we are always here, in this moment, at the ready, with the best, most appropriate response possible. It is where we are and where life is. The two of us can be nowhere else, so this moment is the one place that we can Be Our Best. It is up to us to let ourselves happen, to trust ourselves enough to set ourselves free. This is Being Our Best. There is no better feeling than this. It makes every moment better. Once felt, even briefly, it is not forgotten.
Being Our Best is a never-ending challenge. There will be many times when we fall back into the bad habits of old. Too often, the Noise will determine our response. Expect this. The goal is to become better at Stopping the Noise, at Being Our Best. Learn to reduce the frequency and intensity of the Noise and trust the quiet left behind. This quiet is who we really are, for without the Noise, we are filled with only our thoughts and feelings, free of distrust, fear, anxiety and worry. Can we stop the Noise completely? Maybe the truly enlightened among us can. But for most, probably not. Can it be mitigated, managed? Yes, it can. That is enough. Can we learn to trust who we really are and so Be Our Best? Yes.
Stop the Noise. Be Your Best.
More to come.
