Being Your Best
Sunday, January 20th 2008 @ 12:50 PM
Being your best is about holding yourself to a higher standard and realizing your full potential. How can you learn to be your best, hold yourself to a higher standard, and live up to your full potential? Learn several ways.
Imagine a world where everyone around you was successful. All of your peers were over-achievers, every business in your area was thriving, and everyone you met was a multi-millionaire who appeared to be happy and living fulfilling lives. Now imagine, if you will, how you would feel living in such a world with your current level of achievement. Would you feel any less successful? Do you think your level of achievement would stay the same or increase?
Being your best is about holding yourself to a higher standard and realizing your full potential. We all have the need for belonging, and this need is met by pushing ourselves to a moderate level of achievement based on the society in which we live. Should we be letting other people set the pace for our success, or lack thereof? Do you tend to base your own potential on the potential of "the crowd", and see those who succeed as exceptions? Perhaps it is time to compare our potential and ability to the only person who really matters -- ourselves.
How can you learn to be your best, hold yourself to a higher standard, and live up to your full potential? Here are just a few ways.
- Realize. Realize that you are an individual and not a member of a herd. Realize that effort alone is not the key to success and you are not currently being the best you can be.
- Adopt. Adopt qualities that you admire and respect in others.
- Believe. Believe that you are destined for greatness and the only reason you are not there yet is because you have not realized your full potential.
- Affirm. If you are one who likes affirmations, then say to yourself, "I am better than this". Being your best is like striving for perfection - you will never get there, but it certainly does not hurt to make the effort.
- Integritize. (Yes, this is a made-up word to mean "live with integrity" - just trying to keep consistent with my one word bullet items). Although living with integrity will not necessarily help you to be better than you currently are, it will keep you from falling back.
It seems like common sense that we would all strive to be our best, so why don't we? Some people buy the excuse, "I am what I am". This is true, we are who we are but that does not mean we cannot change. There is nothing wrong with striving to become a better person. There are also those who fear they will become one of those people who act like they are "too good" for others, or have a "holier than thou" attitude. You are not, nor ever will be, better than anyone else besides the person you are now. Remember that, and you will not only have greater respect for all others, but they will have greater respect for you as well.
Being your best is a goal that should be at the top of your list. It is a generic goal that will take a lifetime to achieve. It is, however, a goal where the pursuit alone will increase your chances of living a more fulfilled and successful life.
