I was reading about what the famous basketball coach John Wooden said to his players. He told them that he didn’t consider winning the most important thing. As a matter of fact, he never mentioned winning to his players. He stressed “best effort” for everybody, and felt that a player should feel badly only if he didn’t give it his all.

That really hit me recently as I was running along side my running buddy. We are side by side as long as we’re running at a steady pace, but when it’s time to sprint, she bolts out way ahead of me. Knowing I was giving it MY best effort put all my feelings of failure of not being able to keep up with her away. I felt great knowing that I had given it my all and I could feel proud of my workout. I don’t dread her sprinting ahead anymore. She is 30 years younger than I am, so I shouldn’t be feeling that bad anyway! I want to know that I’ve done my best and that is success. I’m glad that I came to that conclusion before her 20 year old friend joined us too!