The Reasons for Do My Best
Why should I do my best?
Have you ever watched a quitter in a boxing match a guy who just gives up and walks away. The whole crowd boos. They hurl drink bottles and bits of hot dog into the ring.
They don’t throw stuff because he lost. They throw stuff because he quit. In our hearts we all believe that we should give our best.
Eric Moussambani swam for Equatorial Guinea at the 2000 Olympics. He didn’t win. Eric had never even seen a 50-metre pool. At home he trains in a little hotel pool when there are no guests.
The two other competitors in his 100-metre heat from Niger and Tajikistan were both disqualified for false starts, so he swam alone against the clock.
This was also the first time Eric had swum a 100-metre race something the crowd soon suspected. He swam with his head out of the water and he barely kicked his legs.
In the first lap he was really struggling. In the second he was nearly drowning! But Eric was fighting with everything he had.
At the turn, 17,500 spectators began to roar and with every stroke the noise got louder and louder. Twenty metres from the finish, Eric was barely moving but the crowd was going bananas. When he finally hit the wall, the cheering and stamping all but lifted the roof off the stadium.
His time of 1 minute 52 seconds was about a minute slower than all the other competitors. Who cared? Eric Moussambani had done his best.
When you give an honest effort, people support you.
You feel happier when you do your best
Remember what it feels like walking to school on those days when you have done all of your homework and done it as well as you can. Don’t you feel just a bit more enthusiastic about school? Why? Because you are always happier when you give 100 percent, whether it’s an essay or whether it’s a basketball game.
Your teachers will tell you Work hard! and your parents will probably tell you Work hard! One day your boss will tell you Work hard! But you don’t work hard to please parents and teachers, and you don’t work hard to keep your boss off your back.
The big reason you do it is for you.
If you get good marks, that’s a bonus. If other people notice, wonderful! But the main reason is how you feel about yourself.