It’s a struggle, isn’t it?
You want to give your best in your work, but you also want to invest in your relationships, hobbies, and personal growth. You want to pursue excellence in all areas of your life.
But it seems impossible to find the right balance.
Maybe you often need to work late to get the job done, which means that you’re forced to cancel dinner appointments with friends. Or you try to do it all and have it all but end up sacrificing sleep, which makes you feel constantly worn out.
It’s a daily dilemma that frustrates you. It eats away at your soul, just a little.
It makes you wonder if you’re living well, if you’re devoting your time and energy to the things that count.
Is this the way life was meant to be? If you pursue excellence, does that necessarily mean you’ll also be exhausted?
When my best wasn’t good enough
I’ve been wrestling with these thoughts over the past few years. As a husband and father who was working a full-time job (which I just left), running a business, trying to exercise regularly and eat healthily, and striving to fulfill my other responsibilities with both enthusiasm and commitment…
I was tired.
Physically tired, but emotionally too. I was giving my best, but I felt like my best wasn’t nearly good enough.
I was barely staying afloat on all fronts. I was surviving, not thriving.
Don’t get me wrong. Life was never supposed to be a walk in the park, because it’s in overcoming frustrations and challenges that life becomes meaningful.
As Howard Hendricks once remarked:
A man who complains that the coffee is too cold or the beer too warm is a man who thinks he is on a cruise ship.
Life isn’t a cruise to the Bahamas. I’ve learned that it’s hard, and sometimes painful, to even attempt to make a difference and create an impact.
Tiredness and stress are facts of life, but when they become a way of life, it’s time to reexamine the way we make decisions.
It’s a bad idea to give your best in everything you do
When you were growing up, your parents might have said things to you like:
- “How you do anything is how you do everything.”
- “Anything worth doing is worth doing well.”
- “You become what you do.”
- “It’s more important to do your best than to be the best.”
These are all good sayings. I agree that we should establish excellence as both a habit and a prevailing attitude, but I’ve realized that it’s impossible to be excellent at everything.
I’ve tried, and it left me confused and discouraged.
What are good rules for success in life — the rules that motivated and focused students follow to do well in school and 
