Never Save Your Best for Tomorrow: photography... writing... life

The First at Buckhorn Springs

Once in a while I get the opportunity to do work that's outside my normal comfort zone. Sometimes the results are great, other times I'm not so sure. But it's always worth a try because, well, you never know.

Recently I've fielded a number of requests to take photographs. I have a good eye, but photography is not a primary skill and it's certainly not a service I would advertise. When it comes to writing, I'm confident that my work is as good as it gets, I believe I could hold my own in any context; but as for photography, there are countless people with expertise I can't begin to approach.

Buckhorn Springs hole # 7 - our house is behind the green

However, when someone offers me a job, likely as not I'm going to give it a try. And that's why I've spent some time over at the Buckhorn Springs Golf Club this week. I wrote a community profile feature on the owner that ran in the Tampa Tribune. He liked the picture I took to go with the story so he invited me to shoot an image for the new scorecard. I tend to frame things up nicely composition-wise so hopefully my work will fit what he needs.

But then I thought about the possibilities and so I shot a few more images that I think might make a great calendar. Who knows, maybe this will turn into something big?

That's exactly how I got my first book published. I had literally scores of rejection letters, from just about every publisher in the USA. No-one was even vaguely interested in a book by Derek Maul. But then I placed a 200-word meditation with The Upper Room and I gave the job absolutely everything I had - I wrote the best 200 words I had in me.

Much later, at an editorial board meeting, someone remembered my name, and the devotion I had penned at least a couple of years or more in the past.

That's when I realized it was pointless to save my best for "some day". It always is! The life-charged life is about my best today; my best every single day. What I discovered was that there is always more. When I give my best today, tomorrow my best is better yet. It's like an all or nothing investment of myself, my gifts, my dreams, my everything and my future.

Someone suggested I quit writing with such passion here in this blog. "Save your best for the next book," they said. "You don't want to use it all up already..." Well I don't write well tomorrow by holding back today.

In fact that's a great principle: I WON'T WRITE WELL TOMORROW BY HOLDING BACK TODAY.

• I can't love any better tomorrow by holding back today
• I won't give more tomorrow if I don't share everything I have today
• I'm less likely to spend time with the people I love tomorrow if I withhold time from them today
• I won't change the world tomorrow unless I'm prepared to change it today
• I'll never live a life-charged life  - at all - if I wait until tomorrow to begin....

You get the idea - DEREK

Even the driving range looks good at Buckhorn Springs!