‘Could do better’ – a phrase I have heard more than once this week!
Kash, my beloved, sang his first Rock Choir solo last night…and I witnessed him do an amazing job. And yet, afterwards I know he was giving himself a hard time because he felt he could have done better!
Daniel had to give a speech at school this week, for his BTec exam. He put a lot of effort into it and stood up in front of his peers to deliver his presentation…and yet he came home and critiqued himself…he felt he could have done better!
I am frequently ‘told off’ for beating myself up…whether it is making a cake, leading a meeting, writing my book, running a conference…I always feel I could do better!
Yes, repeating this mantra to ourselves does help us to be the best we can be, improve upon things and create learning opportunities. Sometimes, though, I wonder if we give ourselves enough credit for how far we have come and what we have achieved?
For every soloist in Rock Choir there are another 200 of us who dream about taking on that role…or who know we could never do that because we are not good enough.
For everyone who stands up and gives a presentation, there are many others who admire those who have the courage to do so and can only dream about having that courage at some point in the future.
Yes, we can keep ourselves in check, work upon self improvement…and let us also give ourselves credit and a pat on the back for the things we achieve every single day…no matter how small that achievement is and how much better we think we could have done – at least we did it!