"Do a little better than we are doing."

President Gordon B. Hinckley said, "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."

The question was asked of us, "How can we apply editing principles to living the gospel?"

That sparked the question in my mind, "How many first drafts am I putting out there every day?"

Probably a lot. It is a little overwhelming to think about how many I put out there. I probably said a lot of dumb things for the first time today or had a significant amount of dumb thoughts. The first step is to do some self-reflection or self-inventory at the end of each day. A good time to do this would be at the end of each day before saying my nightly prayers. (This is another area that I need to work on.)

Editing principles would go hand-in-hand with President Russell M. Nelson asking us to repent daily and to think celestial. I am going to try to do better at this and hopefully that leads to thinking before speaking. I hope it will lead me to "garnish my thoughts with virtue." We would all do better and be better if we applied editing principles into our daily lives.