What is Best Self?

One of the things I like about working with frameworks, such as Scrum, is it gives us a common language from which to share and advance ideas. Without a shared understanding of terminology, our interactions can get muddy very quickly.

With that in mind, I was reflecting on our experiences sharing the 12 Agile Best Self Principles at the Global Scrum Gathering this week, and with some new faces entering our community led me to define what “Best Self” means so we can build great interactions as we pursue ways to be our best selves.

To get the ball rolling, let’s look at the words independently. I went to Google and asked for definitions. As an adjective, best is defined as “of the most excellent, effective or most desirable type or quality”. The term is used to describe the quality of something relative to others. Self is a noun that is defined as “a person’s essential being that distinguishes them from others, especially considered as the object of introspection or reflexive action”. I like to think of the personal philosophy as a good definition of me (self). For me, it is to be a light. I strive to use that to decode all of the information that buzzes around me, and the best version of me shows up when I intentionally be a light in each encounter in the day.

Then it makes sense that our best self is our unique, essential being that is the most excellent, effective or desirable.

What’s missing is the element of time, I think. We do not or cannot show up as our very best all of the time. Maybe you’re sick? Maybe you are tired or stressed? Some days, our best self is to just show up. Or maybe our best self today is to focus on rest and recovery so that our best self can show up when it is needed.

What is your personal philosophy? Does it describe your best self?

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