Sir Winston Churchill once said, “It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.” I love that quote and I think about it often. Those fifteen words seem to encapsulate so much about the kind of person I hope to be. Today, I would like to elaborate on that statement and challenge you to make your best, better.
I once sat on the board of a nonprofit organization with a retired VP from Xerox who would use the following analogy. Imagine you finally muster the courage to try something really extreme – skydiving. You take the requisite classes and get ready for your first solo freefall. As you zip up your jumpsuit, a man hands you your parachute and begins to fasten it up. When he’s done he pats you on the shoulder, looks you in the eyes and says, “I packed it myself. I did my best.”
Imagine for a moment that your best is not good enough. Then what? Trying our best to accomplish a task leaves a lot of room for error doesn’t it? Perhaps it is also self-defeating. We may be choosing to settle for something less than our actual capability. It opens the door for excuses, doubt, and negative thinking. It is different than setting a clear goal and doing what’s required to accomplish it, or better yet, to exceed it.
The reason the parachute analogy is so effective is because it adds a life or death perspective to the scenario. Surgeons face this perspective on a daily basis. They can often be stereotyped as cocky, arrogant, or tyrannical. On the other hand, if I am going in for surgery I expect a surgeon to do what is required and do it right the first time. I want him to be confident. I want him to lead his team authoritatively. I want him to be sure he can fix whatever ails me. I don’t want to hear anything about how hard he tried or how it’s been a really long day.
For most people, our lives will not center around life threatening decisions and activities. In fact, for many of us, the activities we undertake will seem routine and repetitive. We go to work. We eat three meals per day. We exercise. We go to sleep. These are the patterns in our lives. But patterns are not always helpful. The rhythm of the patterns in our lives can lull us to follow without thinking, to do what is familiar rather than what is required.
Like the surgeon performing a procedure he has done hundreds of times before, he must stop and look at each individual case and use his skill and his knowledge to treat the patient in front of him. He must be attentive in the moment rather than rely purely on his memory of past experiences. His best is achieved if he does what is required to heal the patient before him.
Another example is the life story of Florence Chadwick. According to Wikipedia, Chadwick's biggest contribution to swimming history occurred on August 8, 1950, when she crossed the English Channel in 13 hours and 20 minutes, breaking the then-current world record. One year later, Chadwick crossed the English Channel yet again, from England to France; this time, in 16 hours and 22 minutes, thus making her the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions, and setting a record for the England-France journey.
In 1952, Chadwick attempted to swim the 26 miles between Catalina Island and the California coastline. As she began, she was flanked by small boats that watched for sharks and were prepared to help her if she got hurt or grew tired. After about 15 hours a thick fog set in. Chadwick began to doubt her ability, and she told her mother, who was in one of the boats, that she didn’t think she could make it. She swam for another hour before asking to be pulled out, unable to see the coastline due to the fog. As she sat in the boat, she found out she had stopped swimming just one mile away from her destination.
Two months later, Chadwick tried again. This time was different. The same thick fog set in, but she made it because she said that she kept a mental image of the shoreline in her mind while she swam. She made her best, better through sheer mental determination and by doing what is required.
In closing, Michelangelo may have said it best: "The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Make your best, better.
In closing, Michelangelo may have said it best: "The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Make your best, better.
