Be a Little Better

Gordon B. Hinckley once said a very moving quote: “Each of us can do a little better than we have been doing. We can be a little more kind. We can be a little more merciful. We can be a little more forgiving. We can put behind us our weaknesses of the past, and go forth with new energy and increased resolution to improve the world about us, in our homes, in our places of employment, in our social activities.” Did you know we can tie this directly to editing!?

Editing is not about perfection. If your goal while editing your content, whether it's writing, videos, or photos, is to achieve a polished result, then it is a long, arduous task, and you may never reach that goal. What you should focus on is improving. You need to look at things on a step-by-step basis and see the small adjustments you can make. Maybe it’s the contrast in your photo, removing a phrase from your video, or restructuring a paragraph. 

Living the gospel works in the same way! We don’t need to become the epitome of perfection suddenly; we know that’s not possible. 

Let’s compare it to editing.

1. Cut what distracts you

Writers will remove information that they feel isn’t important or detracts from the overall theme in order to clarify and improve it. We can take out the behaviors, thoughts, or environmental factors that pull us away from Christ. I never want people to feel bad about themselves, so I won’t elaborate on what could do that. I feel that is between you and Him.

2. Strengthen what matters to you

So you’ve started removing the things that take you away from Christ. Editors’ next step is to take what they do have and make it better! Everyone has Christlike attributes in one way or another. I saw a story going around about asking people for a can of formula for a starving baby. Someone decided to go ask some local drug dealers, who many people see in a poor light, for money for formula. Everyone has some good in them, and that point was proven when they provided not only formula but also diapers and other things that babies need. You can find murderers in prison who will destroy a fellow prisoner if they found out that they had hurt a pregnant woman/mother. You are not past being a good person. You have good in you, strengthen it. 

3. Accept yourself as you are

I just said you have good in you, we all do. We all start as a rough draft. A good editor shouldn’t throw away a rough draft, and even more importantly, shouldn’t give up on it. If you try to build yourself up but begin to backslide, there’s always a way back up. Improvement is an ongoing process. Hinckley didn’t tell us to be immediately perfect; he told us, “We can do a little better.”