Peace or Regret

Thursday, May 23

You have a meeting today where you have to present. You’ve known about it for a few weeks. At some point, fear set in. “What if I fail?” So you show up today not fully prepared. You’ve given some effort but not your best effort. You know it’s not going to be terrible but it’s not going to be your best. In your mind, you can use that as your excuse if it doesn’t go well. You’re in the room but you’re not confident. You do an average job, you think. You hope they went for it. Later on, you get the call that they didn’t. No deal.

You have a meeting today where you have to present. You’ve known about it for a few weeks. At some point, fear set in. “What if I fail?” You wrestled with the fear and decided to go for it. To see what’s possible. And if you fail, you tell yourself that at least you gave it your best shot. So you show up ready. You’ve put your best work in the last few weeks. You are confident. You deliver with clarity and poise. You hope they believed it as much as you did. Later on, you get the call that they didn’t. No deal.

Two scenarios. Two approaches. Same outcome. The question is how you would feel at the end of the day. In the first scenario, you have regret. You are left wondering what if you had given your best, what if you had prepared, what if you’d been ready? It eats at you.

In the second scenario, you are still hurting. Failure never feels good. And you’ll always wonder what you could’ve done differently because you care. But you don’t have regret. You’ll put your head on your pillow knowing that you did what you could, and that the outcome isn’t up to you.

Bringing your best to the day never guarantees you get the outcomes you want. It puts you in position to have great outcomes, but they are still out of your control. Bringing your best to the day ultimately eliminates regret. Because the last thing you want to do is wish you had given better effort when it was in your control the entire time.

Show up on purpose today.
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Keep chopping wood. 🪵🪓

-Kevin