Your best effort on a bad day might look worse than your average effort on a good day. It’s still your best.

Your best varies with the day, and output is not a reliable measure of what you put in. On a flat day everything costs more and produces less, so a maximum effort can look like somebody not really trying. Judging yourself by the result rather than the cost is how a hard day turns into evidence against you.

On a day like that, measure what it took instead of what it produced. Say to yourself plainly that this was the top of what was available today. Then refuse to use the day’s output to decide anything about your ability, because it is bad data.