76: Little Jolt of Joy – Winning Isn’t Everything! Go for Your Personal Best!

Chasing Your Personal Best, Not the Win

A little jolt of joy today, a storytime edition that hit me while running between a busy, joyfully stressful day full of family sports events. One story in particular stuck with me.

The perfect Facebook post version

My son ran at regional track finals, qualifying to advance in two relay events, and setting a massive new personal record in the 100 meter dash, one that actually broke the school record. That’s the kind of update that writes itself as a proud parent post, pure celebration, full stop.

The part that usually gets left out

Except his teammate, running the exact same race, also shattered his own personal best that same day and claimed the new fastest time in school history, bumping my son to second fastest ever. Still a phenomenal accomplishment. But if you’d watched the actual race on video, you’d have seen him cross the line last, eighth out of eight in that heat, and eighth out of twenty-four kids overall at regionals. So which version is the real story? “Set a new school-record-adjacent personal best” or “came in last at regionals today”? Both are true.

How often do we choose the harsh version for ourselves?

We tend to post the shiny, curated version of our lives for others while privately narrating the “I came in last” version to ourselves. I failed at this again. I keep trying to get my house in order and keep messing it up. I keep coming in last. Meanwhile, the Instagram posts we compare ourselves against are often half-truths, filtered highlight reels, not the honest full picture.

Looking for your own personal record instead

Yes, you might look around and still see piles you can’t seem to keep on top of. But what if you also noticed: this is actually the best I’ve managed so far. What used to take three days to dig out of, you handled in one. That’s your personal best, even if the house still isn’t where you picture it in your head.

The real goal

Quit chasing a win measured against everyone else, and keep chasing your own personal best instead. That’s part of what I love about track as a sport, you’re always really just racing against yourself, even when you can’t beat the field. This weekend, look for evidence of your own personal best. You’re probably doing better than you’re giving yourself credit for.

Until next time, continue to choose joy.