SELF IMPROVEMENT AND SUCCESS

Yesterday I spoke about unlocking your self-improvement power and today I want to talk about how self improvement can lead to success.

Everything that happens to us happens for a purpose and more often leads to something quite unexpected. Instead of locking yourself up in your cage of fears and crying over 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 Patch Adams – such a cool movie - and thinking what incredible insights this movies gives into human psyche. If you haven’t seen it – you really should - Hunter “patch” Adams is a medical student who failed to make it through the board exams. After months of suffering in melancholy, depression and suicidal attempts – he decided to seek medical attention and voluntarily admits himself into a psychiatric ward. His months of stay in the hospital lead him to meet many different kinds of very sick people. He met a catatonic, mentally retarded people, a schizophrenic and so on. Patch found ways of treating his own ailment and finally realized it was time to get back on track. He woke up one morning realising that after all the failure and pains he had gone through, he still wanted to become a doctor. His most important asset, a positive attitude, and that brought him self improvement and success. He didn’t only improved himself, but also the lives of the people around him and his quality of life. Did he succeed? Needless to say, he became one of the best doctors his country had ever known.

So, when does self improvement become synonymous with success?
Where do we start?

Here are some tips……………

*Stop thinking and feeling as if you’re a failure, because you’re not. How can others accept you if YOU can’t accept YOU?

*When you see hunks and models on TV, think more on self improvement, not self pitying. Self acceptance is not just about having nice slender legs, or great abs. Concentrate on your own inner beauty.

*When people you know feel unhappy and low about themselves, help them move up. Don’t go down with them. They’ll pull you down further and you will all end up feeling inferior and dejected.

*The world is a huge classroom for lessons and mistakes help you learn. Don’t feel stupid and doomed forever just because you failed on a science test. There’s always a next time. Think about what you learned by failing that test. (You won’t make that mistake again, will you?) Make room for self improvement knowing that you are on the most amazing journey of life, full of adventure, fun and excitement, if you allow it.

*Take one thing one at a time. You don’t expect others to change overnight so don’t expect it of yourself. Self improvement is a one day at a time process.

*Self improvement results in inner stability, personality development and then …. SUCCESS. Success comes from self confidence, self appreciation and self esteem.

* Set meaningful and achievable goals. Self improvement will not turn you into an exact replica of Cameron Diaz or Ralph Fiennes. It is about, finding your own individual beauty and personality that you have hidden within, and creating an improved and better YOU.

*Little things mean a lot to other people. Sometimes, we don’t realise that the little things that we do, like a pat on the back, a smile, saying “hi”, “hello” or “good day” to someone or telling Mr. Smith something like “hey, I love your tie!” are simple things that mean so much to other people. When we’re being appreciative about beautiful things around us and other people, we also become beautiful to them and we feel wonderful inside, so go out and spread some joy each and every day.

*When you’re willing to accept change and go through the process of self improvement, it doesn’t mean that everyone else is. The world is a place where people of different values and attitude exist. Sometimes, even if you think you and your best friend always like to do the same things, together, at the same time, it is more than likely that she would decline your invitation to join you on your journey of self improvement. We are individuals and can only go through such changes when we are ready, but don’t give up on your friends if they react this way, it could very likely happen that, as you progress and they see the changes in you, they could be inspired to do the same.

It’s always a reassuring feeling to hold on to the things that you are familiar with and change can be quite traumatic but, if you are ready, throw away the fears and worries and enjoy. A very famous quote says that “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” We are all here to learn our lessons. Our parents, school teachers, friends, colleagues, officemates, neighbors… they are our teachers. When we open our doors for self improvement, those who are to help us on our way will appear and we will journey onwards knowing that we are heading towards success and happiness.

UNLOCK YOUR SELF IMPROVEMENT POWER

When we look at a certain object, a painting for example – we won’t be able to appreciate what’s in it, what is painted and what else goes with it, if the painting is just an inch away from our face. But if we step back a little further, we’ll have a clearer vision of the whole work of art.

Until we reach the point in our lives when we are ready for change and all the available information that will help us unlock our self improvement power, things can be staring us right in the face and we do not see them. The only time we think of unlocking our self improvement power is when everything gets intolerable and we begin to see those things that were staring us in the face.

Change can only come when we are ready and with so much information we need to take things slowly. We cannot change from one day to the next but we can become more aware of who we are and what we want from life.

Self improvement is about our own innermost feelings and how they reflect out to others. If we are in a mess then that is the way people see us. If we are angry and unhappy that is exactly how the world sees us. Even though we try to hide our feelings it is there deep in us and our presence exudes these feelings which others pick up on, usually on a subconscious level.

It is very strange how we hang on to the familiar, no matter how uncomfortable it is, even knowing that we need to do something about it. The reason is that it is all within our comfort zone and the hardest thing is to step outside this zone and make changes. We only change when there seems to be no other way, when we can no longer go on as we are. We get to a point that we no longer think about whether it will be good or bad or comfortable or not we just know that things have to change in our lives and that we are the only ones who can change them.

The only time most of us ever learn about unlocking our self improvement power is when the whole world is crashing and falling apart. We think and feel this way because it is not easy to change. But change becomes more painful if we ignore it.

Change will happen, like it or hate it. At one point or another, we are all going to experience different turning points in our lives – and we are all going to eventually unlock our self improvement power not because the world says so, not because our friends are nagging us, but because we realized its for our own good.

Happy people don’t just accept change, they embrace it. Now, you don’t have to feel a tremendous urgency before realizing the need for self improvement. Unlocking your self- improvement power means unlocking yourself from the cage of thought that says “its just the way I am”. This is such a poor excuse for people who fear and resist change.

Most of us have been programmed, just like computers, we take on board everything others say believing that it is true and then we repeat these facts to ourselves and others. For example: Sylvie repeatedly tells everyone that she doesn’t have the guts to be around groups of people. She heard her mom, her dad, her sister, her teacher, say the same thing about her to other people. Over the years, this is what Sylvie has come to believe. She believes it’s her story so what happens every time a great crowd troops into their house, in school, or in the community? She tends to step back, shy away and lock herself up in a room. Sylvie not only believed in her story, she actually lived it. Sylvie now has to realize that she is not the person in ‘her’ story. Only she really knows who she is and only she can start the journey into finding her true self and letting this very important person be.

Self improvement may not be everybody’s favorite word, but if we look at things from a different point of view, we might have a greater chance of enjoying the whole process instead of counting the days until we are “fully improved”. Three sessions a week at the gym will result to a healthier life, reading books instead of flicking through magazines will improve your knowledge and understanding of life, going out with friends and peers will help you take a step back from work and unwind. Believe it or not just when you are enjoying the whole process of unlocking your self improvement power, you’ll realize that you’re beginning to take things in a much lighter way and you will feel so much happier. Life really is what you make it, it has nothing to do with any one else, you are solely responsible for your own happiness. Remember to treat yourself as you would like others to treat you.