Life Lessons From Scouting: Do Your Best

If you are at all familiar with the Boy Scouts of America, you know that we hold a motto that says: "Do your best."

 

As a Ventureer, this is something that I often hear and it is something that I believe should be applied to more than just Scouting.

 

Scouting is more than just an activity, it teaches life skills, but what is the point of learning life skills if you do not put them into action?

 

In life, we must do our best. 

 

An everyday example of this is that I take a cycle class twice a week and though it proves to be a challenge every week, I keep going and doing my best.

 

Sometimes I can get 20 miles in and sometimes I can only get 12 miles in. My goal is not how far I can go, as much as it is how much I give. I would rather leave a class knowing that I gave it my all, then to wonder if I could have given more.

 

One of the most crucial parts of doing your best is that it is YOUR best, not someone else's best. Your best is not going to look like someone else's best because you are not them. Comparing yourself to others will usually only prove to frustrate, more than motivate.

 

Doing your best helps develop perseverance, courage, and strength of character. It makes boys, men and girls, women.  

 

A quote by Sir Robert Baden-Powell says that, "No one can pass through life, anymore than he can pass through a country, without leaving tracks behind, and those tracks may often be helpful to those coming after him in finding their way." 

 

This is one of the things that makes up the core of Scouting. What we do today affects tomorrow. By doing our best, we are setting a positive example and making a difference. It may not be a widespread difference, but one cannot change the world in one day, only one person at a time and it starts with you.

 

I leave you with this quote by Sir Robert Baden Powell that was found in a letter to all Scouters shortly after he had passed away: "Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best."