My coach has a phrase:

Do what you CAN do.

Simple — maybe stupidly so.

But that emphasis on CAN matters.

The idea is that doing something — anything — is better than doing nothing. And sometimes, especially when you’re low, the honest truth is: you can only do very little.

That’s where the trap shows up:

“Why bother doing a tiny thing? It’s not going to fix anything.”

So you do nothing.

But here’s the thing: the delta between 0 and something is practically infinite. Going from 0% effort to 1% effort is a bigger relative jump than going from 40% to 60%. The percentage difference from nothing to anything is literally infinite.

Today was a hard day for me. I got some tough feedback at work — after spending the last month working harder than I ever have. It was deflating.

Usually, picking myself back up is built into my routines: exercise, sauna + cold plunge, getting outside. Today, though, I was sunk pretty low. I didn’t want to do any of that.

So I asked: What can I actually do?

My “best” today ended up being:

• a walk with my dog
• a hot shower

That’s it.

And it’s still better than nothing. It doesn’t solve everything. It doesn’t magically process all the emotion. But it’s not pure sulking either. It’s movement — slow, small, but real.

So I come back to that simple phrase:

Do what you CAN do.

Not what you wish you could do. Not what your “ideal self” would do. Just what you can.

It reminds me of Miguel Ruiz’s idea in The Four Agreements:

Always do your best.
Not less.
But also not more than you actually have to give in that moment.

Some days your best is crushing it at work, hitting the gym, making dinner for friends.
Some days your best is a short walk and a hot shower.

Both count.

Do what you can do. Today, that’s enough.