Is This Your Best Work?

The secret question behind full engagement.

It was late on a Friday afternoon and I was sitting across the desk from the CEO of a rapidly growing technology company. We were reviewing a process I had designed for the sales team to use when preparing for important presentations.

Throughout our discussion he asked insightful questions, and I had answers for most of them. When we finished the review, he looked across the desk and asked:

“Frank, is this your best work?”

The question wasn’t delivered in a judgmental tone. In fact, it was exactly the opposite. He saw potential in people and had a remarkable ability to challenge them to rise to it.

Still, no matter how many times I heard him ask that question to me or to others, I would always hesitate for a moment and mentally review what I had done to prepare.

As a matter of fact, after he asked me that question once about six months earlier, it started running on a loop in my mind whenever I prepared anything:

“Is this my best work?”

Gradually, I realized something important.

The question wasn’t entirely about the work.

It was really asking:

“Frank, are you fully engaging your talents in life?”

I watched him ask the same question to many other people over the years. The reaction was often fascinating. Someone would present an assignment or proposal, and then came the question:

“Is this your best work?”

Incredibly, in far too many cases, the person being asked would suddenly look like a deer caught in headlights. They would hesitate. Then stumble through an answer. Then begin defending their work.

Eventually, he would calmly say:

“Review what you’ve done and get back to me tomorrow to let me know if this is your best work.”

Almost every time, the person returned the next day with a significantly improved version.

Not because they worked all night.

Not because they suddenly became smarter.

Because the question forced them to fully engage.

This is not a story about working harder or smarter.

It’s a story about untapped potential.

It’s about the realization that many of us have abilities quietly waiting inside us that never fully emerge because we are operating from life patterns we absorbed years ago.

Most of us were not taught to discover our deepest talents.

We were taught how to behave.

· Fit in.

· Be acceptable.

· Avoid failure.

· Do what works.

Over time, those messages become automatic patterns that quietly run our lives.

And eventually many people stop asking themselves an important question:

“What am I capable of when I am fully engaged?”

In almost every self-improvement book you will find some version of the phrase:

“You get what you focus on.”

What is often missed is this:

What you focus on is shaped by the questions you repeatedly ask yourself.

Most people are unknowingly asking survival questions:

• How do I avoid failure?

• How do I keep people happy?

• How do I avoid criticism?

• How do I stay safe?

But what if the primary question you asked yourself in the Gap between Stimulus and Response was:

“Is this my best work?”

How would your life change?

Not just your work life.

-Your relationships.
-Your leadership.
-Your conversations.
-Your creativity.
-Your presence.
-Your energy.

Not perfection.

Not exhaustion.

Not proving yourself.

But fully engaging your gifts, your purpose, and your potential.

Most people have never been taught to do their best work.

They have been taught to do the work someone else decided was right for them.

What if you began asking yourself:

• What does “my best work” actually mean to me?

• What talent makes my heart sing?

• Have I fully embraced that talent?

• How does life feel when I truly give my best?

• Am I waiting for “one day” to fully engage?

It’s not about grinding 24/7.
It’s about feeling peacefully energized.

It’s not about becoming perfect.
It’s about becoming fully alive.

And perhaps that is the real power of the question.

Not that it pushes us to work harder.

But that it calls us to wake up.

To stop living from autopilot.

To fully engage the talents, energy, and purpose that may have been quietly waiting inside us for years.

So, the next time you finish something important — a meeting, a conversation, a project, a decision, or even a day of your life — pause for a moment and ask yourself:

“Was this my best work?”

Then listen carefully to the answer.