At the precipice of success is failure…your choices keep U from slipping off the edge.
Everything that happens to U happens for a purpose. Sometimes it is difficult to see the positives when, seemingly, one negative thing after another occurs and soon the molehill becomes a mountain. Often, this leads to inaction and focus on the negative. Instead of locking yourself up in your cage of fears and focusing on past heartaches, embarrassment and failures, treat them as your teachers and they will become your tools in both self improvement and success.
I remember watching the movie, Patch Adams. Hunter “Patch” Adams is a medical student who failed to make it through his board exams. After months of suffering in melancholy, depression and suicidal attempts – he decides to seek medical attention and voluntarily admits himself in a psychiatric ward. His months of stay in the hospital leads him to finding ways of treating his own ailments. Eventually, he realizes he has to get back on track. One morning he decides, even after all the failure and pains he has gone through, he still wants to become a doctor. He follows through with his dream and brings with him his positive attitude which leads him to self improvement and success. The best part about his journey is he not only improves himself, but he also improves the quality of life of his patients and others.
So, when does self improvement become synonymous with success? Where do U start? Try these tips…
- Stop thinking and feeling as if you’re a failure, because you’re not. How can others accept U if U can’t accept U?
- Stop focusing on your outward appearance as an indicator of self-acceptance. Self acceptance is not just about having nice slender legs, or great abs. Concentrate on your inner beauty and what you are able to offer the world.
- When others are feeling down and in despair, help them elevate themselves. Don’t go down with them. They’ll pull U down further and both of U will end up feeling inferior.
- Understand, your time on earth is simply a series of lessons. U have a choice, U can focus on your failures or your successes. However, there is no need to wallow in your failures and focus on the negative. There’s always a next time. Make room in your life for success and continually strive towards self improvement. Always continue to move forward whatever your circumstances.
- Take one thing at a time. Change doesn’t happen in a single moment, it is a progression; a series of events and happenings. Self improvement is a “one day at a time” process. Always remember that there’s no such thing as ‘overnight success’. Practice, practice, practice!
- Celebrate and appreciate your daily successes and victories. It is all too easy to believe U haven’t made any progress when, in fact, U have had many successes along your self-improvement journey.
- Self improvement results in inner stability, personality development and dig this …. SUCCESS. U will improve yourself when U become more self confident, appreciate yourself and others. Your self esteem will flourish when U believe in you and your abilities and actions.
- Set meaningful and achievable goals. Your hopes and aims and consistent action to make your dreams a reality will result in an improved and better U.
- Doing little things for others can mean so much to them. Sometimes, we don’t realize that the little things such as smiling and saying “hello”, greeting someone “good day” or giving someone else a compliment, are simple things that mean so much to others. When U are being appreciative of your environment and other people, U also improve your own sense of self worth and your outlook on life which positively influences how successful we feel in life.
- When you’re willing to accept change and go through the process of self improvement, it doesn’t mean that everyone else is on board. Accept and be aware that others may wish to impose their own sense of what they want for U. Ultimately, recognize that U need to choose what U want for your life.
- Remind yourself about your specific goals on a daily basis.
Keep this quote in mind: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
Be willing to open yourself up to improving yourself and your responses to life circumstances. Introspection, self-reflection and being honest with yourself are necessary for self-improvement and will help U move towards your definition of success. If U are willing to be honest with yourself and make the necessary changes, U will increase your chances of reaching your full potential. Keep going until your goals are your new reality (the changed you).
“We do not get to choose how we start out in life. We do not get to choose the day we are born or the family we are born into, what we are named at birth, what country we are born in, and we do not get to choose our ancestry. All these things are predetermined by a higher power. By the time you are old enough to start making decisions for yourself, a lot of things in your life are already in place. It’s important, therefore, that you focus on the future, the only thing that you can change.” ― Idowu Koyenikan, Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability
