Blood & Ink: Once You Know Better, Do Better.

“Do the best you can until you know better. Once you know better, do better.”

— Maya Angelou

I wrote this at the end of yesterday’s piece…

It’s attributed to American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, though I’m not sure how or when I first came across it.

It’s one of those lines that stuck with me from the moment I heard it. Some quotes have that power, y’know? Those are the gems.

I love that you can read this without any shred of machismo or self-derogatory punishing energy. This line often sounds like it comes from Grandmother Willow in Pocahontas or the spirit of Mufasa in The Lion King.

Deep compassionate wisdom free from scolding, disciplinary energy.

It’s got the same savvy nonchalance as this classic Zen proverb:

Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water.

This is the direct path of playful personal evolution, in an elegant 3-step feedback loop:

1. Always Do Your Best — One of Don Miguel Ruiz’s 4 agreements.
2. Learn & Improve — Until you know better, and once you know better…
3. Repeat — Once you know better, your ‘best’ has improved, so return to Step #1.

It’s so easy to go off the rails into self-degradation when working towards something.

Pushing yourself past your limits into burnout and exhaustion (this doesn’t count as your best! Your best requires and includes rest and recovery!). Or falling into the narrative quicksand that you’re not good enough, can’t do it, aren’t worthy of it, whatever, when you make a mistake, or learn a better way of doing something.

It’s kind of remarkable: upon realizing a better way to do something, instead of celebrating and immediately adopting it, we have an internal temper tantrum because it means all the time we spent doing it before was ‘less efficient’ and somehow reflects our inadequacy.

Man... without hesitation, once you find a way that works better, just do it! No commentary is necessary. No stories good or bad. Effortless flow.

This applies to everything: how you speak to yourself, the quality of your work, learning a new skill, and communication in relationships. Do the best you can until you know better; once you know better, do better!

Simple as.

You’ve got this,
EB.