I have a dream version of myself in my head.
In this ideal world, I wake up (naturally!) at 6:30 a.m., meditate, hydrate, exercise, and work diligently for the next eight or so hours before putting up an email-proof boundary and spending time with friends.
In reality? Late nights make getting up at 7 a.m. a win. Some days, I have boundless energy and get right to work. But other days? (OK, most days . . .) I need some time to shake off the previous day’s stressors, or I find myself answering emails late into the night when a project takes on a life of its own.
I had always divided these kinds of days in my mind: Sometimes I was on fire, and sometimes I was just off my game. One was clearly better than the other—until I heard the term “situational best.”
To do your “situational best” means to take into account all the out-of-your-control factors—the day’s stressors, your boss’s whims, the obscene humidity—and react as best you can.
To do your situational best is to be adaptable, flexible. It means letting yourself off the hook when you can’t, say, squeeze in a meditation before sprinting to an early meeting. It means recognizing that your energy is shot and that, no, that 10-mile run won’t revitalize you the way you hope it might.
Your situational best means doing you, to the best of your abilities, based on what each given moment presents.
It’s also a sneaky way of showing a little self-compassion: By treating yourself a little more like a living, changing person, you open yourself up to benefits such as greater levels of motivation and life satisfaction, better relationships, and more resilience to cope with the very things that are throwing you for a loop.
Source: Fast Company
