As a rule, everyone has more potential than they think they have; in other words, they’re worth more than they think they are. It’s also true that with some people we could do good business by buying them for what they’re worth and selling them for what they think they’re worth.
The first step toward achieving our goals in life and in our careers should be to know ourselves and try to bring out the best in ourselves, but many people get lost in this process or don’t realize how important it really is to get to know ourselves and improve ourselves as if we were a product.
Some very simple steps to becoming the best version of yourself
1. Observe yourself from the outside
That is, watch yourself as if you were an outside observer. Look at your habits, your actions, what makes you happy, how you have fun, how you behave in a personal crisis or when facing a problem; look at what you do over the course of the day and the week. And be honest. Do you waste time? What do you waste it on? With whom? Who adds something to your life? What do they add?
If necessary, take a pen and paper and write down your observations over the week. The starting point for tackling “anything” is observation. Once we observe, we can identify where our time leaks away, where our productivity leaks away, the toxic people around us, and so on.
2. Identify your bad habits
Start gradually eliminating or reducing these habits. You’re probably not aware of how much time you lose watching TV, chatting on WhatsApp or looking at your Facebook wall. How much alcohol do you put into your body? How many problem foods do you eat? Observe yourself in this way and try to gradually get rid of the habits that make poor use of your time, energy, health, creativity and so on.
See also: 10 things you should stop doing to improve your life
You don’t have to change all of this at once (if you don’t feel up to it), but drop one bad habit every week, so that, little by little, you also notice the rewards of getting rid of them.
See also: Want to break your bad habits? 6 reasons why you might fail
3. Don’t make promises; create routines
Start creating routines by adding good habits, which simply means replacing a bad habit. And make sure you stick to these routines. For example: going to bed at the same time so you get enough sleep, a glass of orange juice (or another fruit juice) in the morning, 30 minutes of reading a day, 30 minutes of exercise a day.
And make sure you stick to these routines whatever your mood. Once they become habits, they won’t take any effort at all, even if at first it feels like you’re climbing Everest. Make these routines your top priority.
4. Learn to concentrate on what you’re doing
Whatever you do, concentrate. If you’re going to read, read. If you’re going to cook, cook. If you’re going to work, focus on work. If you’re going to have fun, have fun and forget about work. When you focus on your work, it feels far less of a burden, partly because you usually finish it sooner. You’ll often find that what made the work feel heavy wasn’t the work itself, but having to start again after every distraction.
5. Use the resources you have right now
“If I had X… I could do it”, “If I were in Z, I would…” Forget those stories. They make wonderful excuses, but deep down not even you believe them.
Start where you are and use what you have. There’s no other secret to starting to achieve your goals. As we always say, a lack of resources is never an excuse. When you start walking, resources appear (sometimes thanks to creativity) and the path opens up as you go. Don’t complain, because, as we’ve already seen, complaining is what leads you to poverty.
6. Be yourself, without hang-ups
Unless you’re a jerk, be yourself. As I’ve said before, we all have flaws and strengths (no exceptions), and we should focus on our strengths more than on our weaknesses. But there’s a huge difference between having a flaw and having a complex.
Flaw: I’m bald, I have a big nose, etc.
Complex: I’m embarrassed to go out because I’m bald, so I’m going to buy a wig… I’m never going to get a date because I have a big nose… Get rid of your hang-ups.
7. Put what you learn into practice
Imagine you want to lose weight, and you read 10 self-help books on losing weight. Some time later you come and tell me: “Self-help books are crap, they haven’t done a thing for me.”
“What did those books say?”
“To eat X and Z…, not to eat Y and W…, and to exercise.”
“And did you do it?”
“No. They’re crap.”
And that’s why the best self-help book is the one whose reader puts the author’s knowledge into practice in their own life.
See also: 10 impressive tips to make everyday life easier
The same thing happens when we read about habits, success in business, personal finance and so on: if you don’t apply what you read, the reading will have trained your brain, but it won’t have done you much good. So apply what you read.
8. Nurture your relationships
Call your family now and then, and your old friends; make new friends, meet new people… compliment the people you’ve just met, help out where you can…
In the new people you meet, you can find things, ideas and opportunities that didn’t exist before you met them.
And finally, keep an eye on your sense of humor. If you don’t laugh often, something is very wrong in your life.
And since you’re going to need willpower for all of this, I invite you to read: 10 ways to increase your willpower and concentration
Featured image: Freddy Castro readysetfreddy, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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