Always do your best

Growing up one of the most common advice I kept bumping into was the phrase “if you always do your best your destiny is king of the world”. I didn’t think it made any sense, not just because there is no such thing as king of the world, and that advice mostly came when there seem to be some form of anxiety and it never qualified as a solution. And I knew that doing my best does not guarantee success. I had done my best in certain cases and the result did not reflect anything near being king of the world.
But the point is not that it guarantees success, It is that if I did my best always, even if it is not good enough, I will derive some form of consolation In the fact that I gave it all I could.

I experienced this profound insight at a time I used to get into a lot of table tennis competitions. I used to go into them with my eyes strictly on the outcome- winning.And generally if I didnt win the first set i become anxious ,I would give up mentally if I lost the first two sets(three sets required for victory). I did win some games when I played like that and it felt good, but when I lost it was very disappointing, sometimes after such a loss I would consider if I should ever get into another competition.
One day as I was walking into the hall for a game, a friend of mine told me “walk in there and concentrate on playing you best game” and I did just that. I diverted my attention from trying to get points to executing the basic processes of the game like serves, returns and smashes the best way I could at any instance, and the points did come automatically. I won that game and I always play that game like that ever since. I still lose some games when I play like that, but the difference is that now I play with the same determination now till my opponent gets the victory point,I don’t waste time feeling sorry or mad at myself,and the reduced anxiety makes the game more interesting. When I lose a game I congratulate my opponent and that’s the end, I can walk across the hall and play another competition.
I don’t quite know about being king of the world but anyone that does his/her best always can easily live a life of little no regrets, not because such life will be perfect but because there is nothing to regret in doing your best.