“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” – Confucius
Becoming the best person one can be is definitely the smartest move one can make, for oneself as well as others. We may have all it takes to become a famous writer, a world class athlete, an incredible parent or an iconic entrepreneur. We all have powerful talents within ourselves. But how to unlock them in order to reach our maximum potential and achieve greatness in life?
Discover our true self
Our self is the starting point, the base to all our endeavours, the beginning as well as the end of the self-development path. It is therefore crucial that we get mindful of who we are, what we are good at, where we want to go, and what makes us happy. Let’s allocate some of our time for self-reflection and come back to it on a regular basis.
Discovering our deep aspirations is an essential step on the path to reaching our full potential. Clear aspirations are easily turned into goals, and goals into actions.
Explore and make experiments
We need to make choices. Jack of all trades, master of none. Of course, we may not get it right the first time. Nothing to worry about, these choices are not irreversible. So if you’re still unsure about the path you should take to reach your best self, get ready for some experimentations. Step out of your comfort zone, visit new places, meet new people, try new activities. See what you get out of it, how you feel, and iterate: you’ll soon find what makes you really tick.
Get a plan
Once we find more about our passions and deep aspirations, we should get an action plan. You want to play rock on stage in front of thousands of people? Then perhaps you should get a guitar, learn of to read tabs, take singing lessons, practice two or three hours a day, get in touch with people to form a band with, and so on. Be specific, quantify your targets, have clear deadlines. If you need a tool or methodology to define clear goals, use goalmap.
“A goal is a dream with a deadline.” – Napoleon Hill
Start somewhere
With your ultimate goal(s) in mind, start walking towards it, step by step. You’re not going to be slamming on a hysterical crowd of fans on day 1. If you think it’s going to be easy, think otherwise. It will sometimes feel like your goal is frustratingly far. Don’t freak out! Remember that it’s just normal. One step at a time – focus on the task at hand. Every champion was once an amateur, and any great endeavor started with a first step.
Get rid of distractions
If we don’t channel our energy, it will dissipate all around in meaningless pursuits. In other words: keep your eyes on the prize! We talked about choices earlier; choosing is focusing. Forget what does not matter. Your time and energy are limited resources, and hence are precious. Don’t waste them on unnecessary things. Less is more.
“It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.” – Bruce Lee
Be consistent
Forget the magic potion, there is no shortcut to optimizing your life. It’s a long road ahead. One must be persistent and walk day in, day out. As we do things repeatedly, they become habits, they get ingrained into our subconscious and become who we are.
There will be setbacks on the way. Don’t use them as excuses to back out. Use them as challenges to test and reinforce your will.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas A. Edison
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