Reflect to Do More

It is a plague of life to regret prior performance, to think back to earlier times, and realize outcomes could have been different if you had just tried that much harder. Wondering if one extra rep, if one more hour of studying, if just one more could have changed the outcome you achieved.

My parents did not express anger with any of my test scores if they knew I did the best I could. The flaw in this design is I firmly believe I could have always done more. It may be a tad personal to use the word “always” when discussing an ability to do more. In my own life I know that every test or assignment I worked on, regardless of the outcome, I could have done one or two things differently that would have allowed me to unlock more effort. I could have started studying an extra day earlier. I could have studied an extra thirty minutes the night before the test. I could have put my phone in the other room so distractions were ignored. Whatever the test, whatever the result, there was always something I could have done differently.

These reflections are difficult to realize because in hindsight we could always do more. With college and high school athletics, there is always the idea I could have done more. I could have been more focused. I could have run more sprints. I could have done more treatment to prevent injuries. I could have watched more film.

These realizations and reflections are not to look back on anything with regret. They are to realize that in the moment, when we think we are working the hardest we possibly can, we can always do more. If we feel we can hardly take another step, rest for five minutes and finish the workout strong. If we knew all of the flashcards for our test, take a break, and redo the deck to see if we can go through them even faster. Hard now will seem easy in a couple of years when we look back on it. We can always do more.
By doing more, we will win. No one else feels the way we do. No one gives everything they have to then wait a couple of minutes and go again. By doing more, we unlock a level of success not possible to anyone but those who are willing to adopt this mindset. By doing more we are no longer in competition with others, it is only a competition with ourselves. A competition to see how far we can truly go.

We

Can

Always

Do

More.