Setting The Bar High

1) One role model said, “It’s important to remember that whatever you are doing, you should do it well. Do it to the level that you’d be proud of it when you look back.” What things in your life do you look back on and feel proud? Why? How can you ensure that you can look back on the things you are doing now and feel proud?

2) Striving to do your best isn’t only about doing your best at school or work. Where else in your life might it be important to do your best? Why?

3) Listeners learned that one important thing they can do in their lives is to surround themselves with people who are the best at what they do. Why do you think it is important to surround yourself with people who are the best? What might this mean at school? In sports?

4) One role model told us that “not being the best person around is okay, as long as you are working to get there and you’re seeking that as a goal.” What goals do you have in your life? What steps are you taking to move towards achieving those goals?

5) Setting the bar high for yourself takes discipline. What does it mean to “set the bar high”? Why is it hard to achieve this? How might self-discipline help?

6) You may have heard the saying, “The only difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.” What is that “little extra”? How can you strive to give that “little extra” in your life at school? At home? While pursuing your hobbies?

It’s important to remember that whatever you’re doing, you should do it well. Do it to the level that you’d be proud of when you look back on it. Even when you’re not realizing it, even when you don’t know it, people are looking at you, they’re watching you, they’re observing you. So you never know when an opportunity will come.

For me, I’ve always believed that doing your best has always been really, really important. So it didn’t matter what I did in life. I could have been a street sweeper, but I believe that you should be able to recognize the patch of road that I swept just because it would be so pristine. And I take that attitude into everything that I do from my job to my everyday life, to my home. It infiltrates all aspects of my life.

It is very important that if you want to work for the best, you have to strive to be the best. Because if you’re working with people who are the best, they’re not gonna wanna work with people who aren’t the best. So in order to work with the best people, you have to work equally as hard yourself, and you have to be comfortable with yourself, with your level of preparation to work with people who are the best. You don’t ever wanna be insecure and think, well, I wanna look like I’m the best, so I’m gonna find people who are a little worse than I am so I can really shine. Because you don’t want to work with people who are inferior because that says something about you. You always wanna surround yourself, even if they’re better than you, you still wanna surround yourself with them because they will teach you things so that you can become better. So you can’t be insecure. Not being the best person around is okay as long as you’re working to get there and you’re seeking that as a goal.

I was raised by my mom and one of the things that she always instilled in us was to always do our best. Not that we have to be perfect because, you know, perfection is sometimes not obtainable. You can’t always be perfect, but you can always try to do your best. And my mother always expressed that to us, because one of the things she always did was check our homework. She always kept up with what we were doing in school. And when she knew we could do better, she demanded that we did. And so from that upbringing, I feel like that’s where I developed the discipline. Not that I can be better than someone else or anything like that, but I always try to do my personal best.

Give the best of yourself. I don’t care where you are. Always do your best, put your best foot forward. You don’t do this because of other people, but you do this for yourself and to be your best self at every opportunity that you can be at. There’s a saying that it’s such, there’s just a little between being ordinary and extraordinary. So give that little push and be extraordinary.

It’s an important thing to live up to the responsibility of who you could be. What a wonderful gift. No one else is that person. It’s just you. So you might as well be as good as you can.

Independent Learning Guide: This all-purpose guide can also be used by educators, parents, and mentors to jumpstart a valuable discussion about important life lessons and bits of wise advice.

We all know that setting goals is important. But did you know that setting the bar high when you create goals is the best way to ensure you are really giving your all? Learn what it means to set the bar high and the importance of surrounding yourself with others working to achieve their full potential in this powerful video.

Classroom Lesson Plan: This step-by-step lesson plan is available to guide a more in-depth “before, during, and after” learning experience when viewing the video with students. This lesson plan is also suitable for use in after-school programs and other educational settings.

Fun Page Activity: What’s on your wish list? Do you want to do well on your next math test or score more goals in your next soccer match? Setting goals for yourself is one great way to ensure you do your best. Practice setting goals for all different areas of your life in this quick fun-page activity.