Compared to everyone around me, I’m not the best thinker, writer, speaker, leader, organiser, coach, or blogger.

I’m not the best risk-taker, strategist, lecturer, relationship manager, mentor or deal-maker.

Nor am I the best author, researcher, public speaker, project manager, course designer, facilitator, financial planner, business modeler, lean startup doer, creator, thinker, researcher or innovator.

The good news is, it is not my job to be the best. My job, first and foremost, is to care the most.

Then I have to turn that caring into a willingness to put myself on the line. To do work that matters, to put myself on the line for initiating a project that many not work.

Then I need to translate that into fierce dedication to follow-through, relentless commitment to outcomes, ongoing openness to learning, show up on time, show up consistently and strong orientation to partner with other generous people doing work that matters.

I must be able to see where I know enough already, where I can learn things I need to learn, and where others will be better placed than I am to take parts of the work forward.

Someone else is always going to be better than I am, smarter, taller than me, good looking than me, more experienced, or more capable in some way.

Doing work that matters is about doing it, about caring, about connecting, not about competing to be the best.

Care more, connect more, be more empathic, matter more,  do work that matters more.

My decisions about what I will do, what role I choose to play, what steps I will take next, where I choose to take the reins, these will never get out of the gate if they go through a “best at” filter.

PS: This is about affirmations to do work that truly matters. Maybe, just maybe, competition should be about who cares more, and does something about it.