No Need to be Embarrassed

After the Superbowl, a reporter asked Peyton Manning if the loss was embarrassing. Peyton replied, "It's not embarrassing at all. I'll never use that word. There's a lot of professional football players in that room, that locker room, who put a lot of effort into being here and playing in that game. The word 'embarrassing' is an insulting word to tell you the truth."

This is hopefully what we were taught, and tell our kids—"as long as you try your best, that's all that matters". Unfortunately, when it's your job and lots of money is at stake, that's not the whole story. 

But the point remains true: you can only do your best. And, you shouldn't be embarrassed if you do your best. At worst, you won't do as well as you would have liked, but you will learn from that experience and will be able to do better next time.

The hard part is always trying our best. Sometimes it's hard to motivate. Sometimes what we're doing is difficult. Sometimes it's scary—we haven't done it before; we might mess up. When I am having these thoughts, I find the following two quotes motivating:

"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot." - Eleanor Roosevelt

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw

Whether you use these quotes or something else, find what motivates you to put forth your best. And when you do, move forward with the confidence that whatever the outcome, you'll be better for it.