Our speech and thoughts are not the be all and end all of intentional living, but for most people’s practical purposes, words are essential to our experience and results.

Most people use the phrase, I’m doing the best that I can as a plaintive expression that is essentially a complaint…A complaint that you are disappointed in your own results, a complaint that that your efforts aren’t yielding enough benefits or results and a doubting that further change is possible.

I’m Doing the Best That I Can often equals:

• I’m doing everything as perfectly as I can so how come things aren’t going great for me? See! Nothing is fair and nothing works.
• It’s really hard to do (this thing) well and I’m not going to try any harder.
• Get off my case! (The attitude might be towards others but that kind of attitude is always towards the self as well.)

Here are some suggestions for ways you can move yourself to a better direction if you find yourself using the phrase “I’m doing the best that I can” often:

I’m Doing the Best That I Can: The Upgrades

• I’m quite proud of myself, I’m actually doing really well with this!
• I’ve come really far with this! (This leaves room for more growth…)
• I’ve done really well with this and I can see the benefits!
• I feel really good about this, I’ve gone above and beyond expectations.
• This is working!

Do you see the difference? The above phrases emphasize feeling good about your actions, seeing the progress, and leaving room for more!

If you can’t bring yourself to embrace the upgrades, that should tell you something!

Happy upgrading!