Is That The Best You Can Do?

It seems like a rude question. But the question in today’s blog post title is very important. It might seem a demeaning question, but actually, it’s a power test in itself.

I used to have a different job. I produced a course document. I took it to my boss at the time and asked him to read it. He gave it a brief glance over and ask:

IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?

Inside I was raging. WHAT A ****! Asking me that, demeaning me.

So I grumpily strode off to my desk, swearing and cursing him in my head.

I fixed some bits that I knew had been bothering me. Checked for a few errors, made a few corrections.

This time, my boss studied it. I was sure he was more impressed now and I would be rewarded with being allowed to finally go home (we were working into the night). He looked up to me with a smile and said:

IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?

I was speechless. I took the document. Went back to my desk, ate chocolate, drank diet cola and swore a lot about him to myself. I raged with myself about how unjustified his question was. But inside, I knew something. I went through the document, I looked carefully, I fixed things, I strengthed it, change words, rewrote sections, spell checked, rewrote, reworked, cut out waffle and improved the bibliography. Now it was really good. I printed it and proudly strode up to him, gave it to him and waited.

He didn’t even look at it.

IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?

YES! YES! YES I screamed inside. “Yes” I said in reply. Then without looking at it, he smiled and put it on his desk.

And of course, this time, I really was doing the best I could. But why didn’t I do that from the beginning? The others were NOT the best I could do.

Whatever you do this week, whatever rehearsal, line learning, whatever action you take towards your goal, whatever scene you write, classes you teach, job you do. DO THE BEST YOU CAN. and then stop, go back and really do the best you can do.