Self Improvement: The Foundation Of Success
There is a lot of discussion these days about what’s necessary for success. There are always arguments about why some methods are better or worse than others, and there are plenty of books and blogs that claim to have the answer. But I believe there is one aspect of success which can really be stand-alone: self improvement.
I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of self improvement and self-improvement methods; some of the most intelligent and successful people I know swear by them.
Now, before you read any further, please note that this article is not meant to be a comprehensive rundown of all possible methods or theories. It’s simply a discussion on how self improvement can be your foundation for success.
There is a lot out there on this topic, so I won’t go into too much detail. But I will touch on a few key points.
I’ve divided self improvement into two categories for this discussion:
1) internal – mental, emotional and spiritual aspects, and
2) external – physical, social and professional aspects.
Here are a few things to consider…
While success may or may not be your ultimate goal (although I hope it is!), I’ll bet that you aren’t completely satisfied with your life as it is right now. I know I’m not. I want to be more successful, but there are a few other things that I want as well. Health and happiness are important to me; I want to be physically fit and emotionally happy with my life and myself. My eventual goal is to find a happy balance where the things which help me achieve my professional goals are also the things that help me in life.
Is self-improvement how you achieve your success?
I believe that self-improvement is the foundation upon which we can build our progress in life. I firmly believe that if you start with the right foundation, you’ll be able to achieve anything. You may not be able to reach perfection, but certainly you should be able to reach a more ideal state.
With this in mind, the question is: where should we start?
Most of us believe that it’s necessary to have a certain amount of physical and social strength before we can improve our life or reach our goals. Think about the time when you first started eating healthy and exercising. It wasn’t easy! And certainly it wasn’t fun – you had to do it for yourself, because it made you feel good!
The same is true for mental and spiritual growth. We’re told that we need to read more and think critically before we can make progress. And while I don’t think you absolutely have to read every book out there on self improvement, I do think that you need to make an effort.
This is how you begin.
Embrace the challenge of learning about yourself - what motivates and challenges you, your limits and your potential. Don’t try and be a superhero – enjoy the process of becoming the person you want to become through self-improvement. You must learn about yourself because we are only as good as our knowledge of ourselves.
Trust your self improvement methods - if you listen to every piece of advice and pick up every book, you may not be learning the right things that are actually useful for you. Schedule time when you know you will be able to focus just on self improvement. You can’t be everywhere at once, and if you don’t give your self improvement methods the attention and respect they deserve, you could be wasting valuable time.
There is no objective way to know if you are “improving” - this is because there is no objective way to determine what perfect looks like. We all have our own ideas about what it means to be perfect. You may want a big house and fancy clothes, while your best friend wants a happy family and kids. There is no right answer; use self-improvement to form your own idea of what needs improvement.
Assess your time - make sure you’re not wasting time on the wrong things that don’t lead to success. Focus on the things that really matter, and learn how to say “no” when necessary.
The moral of this discussion? Making sure you are improving yourself is a must before you can improve anything else in your life. It’s hard to reach your goal if you don’t know what your goals are and how you can improve. So start today, learn about yourself and discover what’s possible!
Read more at http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/self-improvement-the-foundation-of-success.html#hWXolpCbx6fDXKCT.
Conclusion
I hope you have learned a lot from this article. There is much more to self-improvement than we can get into in a single article or conversation. You may want to learn more on this subject - there are a lot of resources out there for you!
If you do get started on the journey toward self-improvement, let me know how things are going for you.