Do your best

Eddy Merckx, the greatest cyclist of all time, once said, "It is not enough to have talent alone.  You will have to train hard and motivate yourself to do your best."  Merckx certainly had talent, but it was more than just talent that helped him win the Grand Tours in professional bicycling a record eleven times (five wins in the Tour de France, five wins in the Giro d'Italia, and one win in the Vuelta a España), all five of the so-called Monuments (the five oldest and hardest one-day bicycle road races), and three World Championships.  Merckx also won several major victories in track cycling, including the hour record (bicycling the most miles in one hour).  He was nicknamed "The Cannibal" (apparently the daughter of one of his teammates called him that when her father suggested that Merckx never let anyone else win) and won over 525 victories during his 18 year career.  Merckx worked hard at his craft and excelled because of it.

I was taught from a very early age the importance of working hard and doing your best.  I enjoyed my time as a Boy Scout starting around age seven years and continuing all through the end of high school, eventually earning Scouting's highest award, the Eagle Scout Award.  Scouting has had some difficult times as of late, but the values I learned back then undoubtedly played a major role in who I am today.  Scouting helped teach me to always do your best.  For example, the Cub Scout motto is "Do your best."  Similarly, the Boy Scout Oath begins with the statement, "On my honor, I will do my best..."

I have always been inspired by reading about legends like Eddy Merckx.  This past week, I came across another inspirational story that involved former President James Carter, who has had a very long, distinguished, and successful post-presidency (some would argue that his contributions to our country have been greater after his presidency than during his term in office).  President Carter is the only one of the 45 U.S. Presidents that attended and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy (only two other Presidents attended the military service acadamies, with Presidents Grant and Eisenhower graduating from West Point).  Incidentally, President Carter served as the Scoutmaster for his three sons, but the only U.S. President to have earned the Eagle Scout Award was President Gerald Ford.

President Carter was a submarine officer and was hand-selected by Admiral Hyman Rickover to enter the Navy's nuclear submarine program.  Importantly, during the early days of the nuclear Navy, Rickover hand-selected all of his officers (Rickover did so much to establish the Navy's nuclear program that he known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy").  President Carter would later say that other than his parents, Rickover had the most influence on his life.

President Carter tells the story of how he earned the opportunity to interview with Admiral Rickover for a position in the fledgling nuclear submarine program in 1952.  Admiral Rickover interviewed Carter for two to three hours, asking questions about strategy, tactics, physics, literature, and history.  Towards the end of the interview, Admiral Rickover asked, "Where were you ranked in your class at the Naval Academy?"  Carter felt that the interview was definitely going his way and replied, "I was ranked 59th in a class of 840, sir."

Admiral Rickover wasn't impressed.  He followed with another question, "Did you always do your best?"  Carter thought for a moment about answering instinctively with a statement about how he always did his best.  Something inside him caused him to pause.  He later said, "I recalled several of the many times at the Academy when I could have learned more about our allies, our enemies, weapons, strategy, and so forth."  So, instead of giving Admiral Rickover the answer that he wanted to hear (or at least so Carter thought), he replied honestly, "No, sir, I didn't always do my best."

Admiral Rickover remained silent.  He looked at Carter for an uncomfortably long time before asking one final question, "Why not?"  At that point, the interview was over.  Carter never forgot that question or the lesson that accompanied it.  He ended up getting selected for the nuclear submarine program, but more importantly, he learned the importance of always doing his best.  As a matter of fact, his campaign memoir when he ran for Governor of Georgia was titled, "Why Not the Best?"  

"Why not the best?"  Merckx, "The Cannibal" said, "You need just as much drive to be a good businessman as you do to excel as an athlete."  He is right of course.  Always do your best, no matter where you are or what you do.