Today I´d like to talk about an English expression that´s not exactly untranslatable, but in my opinion, it loses strength when translated into Spanish, becoming less impactful.

Do your best.

Three syllables. Direct and elegant. Empowering.

Hazlo lo mejor que puedas.

(Literally, do it as well as you can.) Eight syllables. The same idea, but expressed a little more clumsily, in a more roundabout way.

I´m sure you´ll agree with me; it sounds much better in English...

(Part of a mural seen at Dublin airport several years ago.)

In any case, you get the idea, right? For any situation in life, the best thing we can do is do our best, and nobody can ask anything more from us.

This may seem very simple, and in a certain way, it is, but at the same time, it´s quite complicated. Because there´s no objective measurement, only we can know for sure whether we´re doing our best or not. And sometimes, doubts creep up: are we setting the standard too high, and beating ourselves up for not accomplishing everything we should be able to? Or maybe we´re setting it too low, and getting stagnant in a life that´s too complacent or resigned?

This is all going through my head right now because this week has been a bit challenging, as I had already foreseen, and I´ve found it hard (even harder than usual) to strike a balance between catching up at work and at home and resting to regain a good rythm, trying to also carve out a little time to have fun and enjoy. What should I give priority to? Sometimes this is not an easy decision; it requires paying attention to what´s happening outside as well as inside of us, so we can know what our needs are, and what the world needs from us, at any given moment.

There´s a lot more to say on this topic; in fact, "always do your best" is one of the Four Agreements from a book with the same name written by Don Miguel Ruiz, I´ll explain this in more detail in a future article. For the moment, here are a couple of selected quotes that I hope will add a little perspective to this whole topic:

Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.

Maya Angelou

On the days you have only 40%, and you give 40%. You gave 100%

Jim Kwik

What do you think? What does doing your best mean to you? In what specific ways are you doing, or not doing, your best?