The only way to be the best you can be is to be able to help others. As long as there are others to share life and experiences with, even your personal best will always impact another in some way. It is self-destructive to pursue goals that harm others, because by harming others, we also harm ourselves. Each of us is dependent on one another to achieve greatness above that which we can achieve alone. An understanding of this interdependence on one another in the quest to achieve mankind’s optimal potential should serve also as motivation for each of us to aspire to our own individual excellence in helping others, and yet we commonly give in to selfish pursuits that impair the progress of everyone.

Helping Others: A Choice With a Future
It is difficult to throw off our natural tendencies to seek advantage over others and gain stature by harming or degrading them, but our intellect is the tool that provides us the opportunity to rise above our brutal and barbaric nature if we are willing to consider the greater good. Such is the dilemma that all of us face as we come to terms in the difference between what we are and what we can be – do we develop character with the intention of being of benefit to others, or do we become people who gain power by weakening others. If taken to the ultimate extreme there is no doubt of the better choice…we can destroy everyone in the world except ourselves or we can learn to work together. One choice has a future…the other does not.

A Competition with Yourself
Being the best you can be is not a competition with anyone but yourself. It is neither a goal to deprive others nor yourself of victory. You are the best you can be when your thoughts and actions are conducive to both the benefit of others and yourself. This is the source of one of the greatest mistakes that mankind has made for thousands of years. It is always a matter of selfishness that prevents us from achieving our true potential. The faulty notion that we are somehow better than others and that we deserve more than they should have is one that recklessly causes us to abandon all that we know to be true of fairness and equality.

Strength in Adversity
Since humankind has proven so far incapable of defeating its animalistic nature with its intellect, it is unlikely that at any time soon we will see mankind being the best it can be.The achievement of humanity’s true potential remains for now only a theory – a theory left unrealized, because of the selfishness and greed of those unwilling to try. The fact remains, however, that we are the best we can be when we make ourselves able to help others. The challenge in life to those who wish to be their best is to develop honor, charity, and love of character among many in the world who share no such standards, and in fact, prey upon those who do.

Being the best you can be takes courage. It requires you to develop the character that gives you the strength and love to help others in need, even when it seems that they might not be willing to return such assistance if you needed it for yourself. There are always people in need of help, and you can always find ways to help them. It is always possible to be the best you can be, even when others have no interest in doing the same. It is finding the courage to be your best and to offer your strength to others that makes the world a better place. At times it may seem that no one else cares, and that it is not worth trying to make a difference. In times of such doubts remember this: you have the ability to master your intellect, and no matter what anyone else does, you can always be the best you can be when you have the courage and strength to help others.

Related Reading:

Self-Discipline: Every day as I look in the mirror, I am confronted by one of life’s greatest ironies…that I will be both my worst enemy and greatest ally. There is no one who can cause me greater trouble or deliver more success to my life than myself.

Discipline Quotes: Profound sayings of various authors on the topic of discipline.

What is Love: A look at the refinement of character.