Every day comes with its struggles and challenges that we have to face. We are all going through our unique journeys to becoming our best selves, and there are several things we can do to get there. You can find a list of hobbies that make you productive here. You can also realize that one goal that you may have been avoiding for the longest time.
In this article, we are going to share with you a list of ways of how to become the person you want to be in your journey to self-actualization.
1. Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff
Your ideal picture of yourself does not have to be perfect. Most of the time, the tiny flaws we see in ourselves are invisible to others. Sometimes it can be hard to look at the bigger picture but we’re going to share with you a little trick you can try. The moment you feel like you are nitpicking, ask someone else’s opinion about the matter. You might be surprised about what they have to say. We tend to be a little harder on ourselves than what can be seen in reality, and this ends up stressing us out. It’s time to remember that every single hurdle we face is but a small hiccup in our whole journey in life.
2. Love What You Do
Are you doing your work just for the money or because you do like it? Not all of us are lucky to find jobs that are tied to our interests and hobbies, and when we aren’t, it can be one of the biggest sources of our frustration. It doesn’t matter if you think your work is interesting or important enough, the secret to making every day a little happier is by loving what you do. And it shouldn’t stop at our professions! When you learn to enjoy every task, no matter how mundane or how trivial, this helps bring out the best parts of ourselves. As they put it, there are no small roles, just small actors!
3. Learn From Mistakes
One proven and tested way to turn things around is to learn from our mistakes. According to a Harvard lecturer, the failure rate for a lot of companies is actually at 30 to 40 percent, if you define failure as losing the money put into the business. We can learn to anticipate mistakes, but this might also become a cause of more pressure. Instead of doing that, we can make it a point to examine what we have done when we think we have failed, so that we can improve on our next attempt. An often attributed quote to Thomas Edison goes, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
4. Do It For Yourself
Have you ever stopped to consider why you have chosen to do what you are doing? Did you arrive on your path after your careful decision-making process? Some of us end up taking the professions that our parents envisioned for us and that’s perfectly alright, especially if it is something that we enjoy. Sometimes too, we end up doing things just because others have told us and we feel like we need to please them. Basing our actions on others’ enjoyment will cause us discontent down the road. Whatever you do, you have to actively choose to do it for your personal growth and not for anyone else’s.
5. Give Thanks
No man or woman is an island. On our journey to the top, we will encounter many people around us who will provide us with invaluable support. Don’t wait until you get there to begin showing your gratitude. You can start small or go big, but always with at least a little “thank you”. You also need to be appreciative of your circumstances, whether you are already a little comfortable or still working to this point. There’s always someone else who would rather be in your place than theirs.
6. Think Before You Act
A good sign of maturity is the ability to consider actions before executing them. In our youth, we may have been a bit hastier at making our own decisions and that’s normal; it’s what was expected at that age. But as we grow in wisdom, you’ll notice how much more time you spend thinking about decisions. A good cue to take from Napoleon Hill is this, “Never say or do anything before thinking if it will benefit someone or hurt them.” Sometimes it’s better to keep our thoughts to ourselves or to postpone some actions for later especially if this is something that won’t be good for other people.
7. Be Present
This goes beyond just simply showing up. Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, make sure that you are truly there. Do you often find yourself with your mind wandering off to wherever, like maybe you are fantasizing about a different place? They say that eighty percent of success is simply showing up. But it’s not enough to just sign attendance in class if you are not listening to the lecture. When you are always present not just in place but also in your mind, you get more in control of what happens to you. Make it a commitment to be focused on the things at hand so that you never miss a single moment.
Above all of these, it’s time to stop and realize that while we might not be that ‘best’ version of ourselves yet, we are already a better version of our yesterdays. Today, we are already the sum of all our past failures and yet we’re still here! It’s even possible that we will never attain this ideal vision of who we want to be and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. We should be more scared of no longer growing than the voyage to attain that growth. The going is hard to get to the mountaintop, but nothing can certainly beat that view, so enjoy it!
