Be honest. Do you expect yourself to be at your best every hour of every day?
At work. At home. In the gym. In your faith. With your kids. And then when you don't hit that bar, you beat yourself up for it.
Here's the thing - nobody performs at their peak all day long. Not athletes. Not leaders. Not you, and definitely not me. But there's a better target, and I think it changes how we judge our own effort.
We're either growing or going backwards
First, a little perspective. We don't really stay the same.
Our investments are growing, or our debt is. We're getting more fit and healthy, or we're getting more deconditioned. Our relationships are getting stronger, or they're drifting further apart. Same with our faith - are we putting in the reps to become who God created us to be?
So yes, we want to perform. We want to grow to our next level, whatever that next level is. The question is what kind of performance we're actually chasing.
What a football game teaches about effort
I coach high school football, and I love this picture.
We tend to think a player needs to be ready to go all out for a two or three-hour game. But that's not really how it works. Each play only lasts a few seconds. Most players are only on one side of the ball. Add up all the time a player is actually going all out in a game, and it's minutes, not hours.
In those few seconds, we expect peak performance. Absolute best. Same thing if you're in a boxing ring or a fight - when you're in it, you'd better be at your peak.
But nobody can stay at the red line for hours nonstop. Outside of something like a marathon runner who trains for that distance, we just aren't built to run that way.
Peak performance vs optimal performance
So here's the distinction I want you to think about.
Peak performance is your all-out best. It's for the moments that call for it.
Optimal performance is your best effort relative to the time and the situation you're actually in.
During the play, optimal is peak. You leave it all out there. But the rest of the day asks for something different. It asks for steady, honest effort in the stuff that doesn't feel exciting.
And that's where most of the battle is. It's not in the sexy, highlight-reel moments. It's in the mundane. Running a business. Making the sales calls. Leading a team. Serving your family. Showing up in your faith life. The day-to-day things we really have to do, not just the things we want to do.
If we can learn to perform optimally there, the peak moments take care of themselves.
What optimal looks like on a bad day
Let's make it real.
Say you've been sick. You feel like crap. You don't want to go to the gym and infect anybody, so you do your workout at home. Maybe it's a walk instead of a hard session. You still get your movement in.
That's optimal performance. Not your best-ever day - your best for that day.
Even if we don't feel well. Even if we're in pain. Even if our emotions are hurt. Even if our mindset is weak. We can still choose to perform optimally for the moment we're in. Adjust the effort to the conditions, but don't skip the rep.
Now, if we're being honest, most of us aren't doing that most of the time. Me too. I'm a constant work in process on this. I need it as much as anyone reading it.
Lift each other up
This isn't just a solo thing, either.
I'd love for us to encourage one another and edify one another to get better at performing optimally - day to day, moment by moment - in the priorities that matter. Our faith. Our family. Our friends. Our finances. Even our fun.
Sometimes the most optimal thing you can do for someone else is notice their honest effort on a hard day and tell them it counts. Because it does.
Your One More Rep: give today your optimal best
Here's your One More Rep for today. Just one.
Pick one thing on your list - a workout, a hard conversation, the boring task you keep pushing back. Before you start, ask yourself one question:
"Given where I really am today, what does my best look like right now?"
Then go give that. Not someone else's best. Not your best from three years ago. Your optimal best for today.
If you need a place to start, try 17 minutes of movement. It doesn't matter what it is - a walk, stretching, a workout. Get it in, especially on the day you don't feel like it.
Bring the peak when the moment calls for it. The rest of the time, just keep showing up optimally. That's how you grow.
God bless. Go do something hard today.
