There is a great saying from Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Imam of Shia Islam and who ruled the fourth caliph. He said, “The best revenge is to improve yourself”, and there is so much wisdom from this saying.
Today, this quote is highly reflected in the word, “self-improvement”. Self-improvement covers a wide variety of subjects that you use to try and make yourself a better person. It is true that everyone wants to be a better person, have more confidence, be more productive, get healthier, possess specific skills such as public speaking and leadership, and people also want to learn how to get better in terms of their relationships, careers, and also finances.
Highly successful understand that becoming successful is all about building a better character, adopting productive habits, and learning to shine and bring out the giant within them. Success is not about driving the sports car, living in luxury or spending lavishly, it is about becoming the best version of you. And this is why it is extremely important to improve yourself from time to time if you want to achieve amazing success in life.
Tony Robbins, the world #1 success coach coined the word “CANI”, which means “Constant-And-Never-ending-Improvement”. According to Tony, one must commit to CANI if they sincerely desire to achieve their goals and to realize their dreams.
Improvement makes you more confident
When you improve yourself, your confidence level will increase too. This is because you will become better prepared and are ready for what is coming. Imagine you improve your public speaking skills from time to time, and when you get a chance to speak on the stage, you will have less fear and more courage because you are prepared. And having a strong confidence in what you do is important to your success in life.
Your improvement inspire others
Everyone wants to work for the best companies, and why is that? The answer is simple, big companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Deloitte care a lot about their employee’s improvement. These organizations have big visions and they are always improving their products and services to create more value for their customers. People who work there feel proud and are inspired to perform better. When you commit to improvement, you will inspire others to do so.
Improvement allows you to achieve more
This is common sense. When you become better at what you do, you can achieve more in less time. You will become more productive and able to accomplish better results. Look at how technology has changed our lives. Three decades ago, people are relying on letters and phones to communicate with each other, today, people can talk to each other with a click using their emails and the instant-messaging feature. Improvement has brought a lot of conveniences and achievements to people’s lives.
Improvement gets you to the next stage
The only way to become better, achieve more, and to get to a higher ground is to constantly improving yourself. When you improve yourself through goal setting and having a mission, you feel a greater sense of achievement and you will be constantly moving forward in life. More importantly, you will never stay stagnant and remain at where you are. You will drown if you are not moving and swimming. So keep moving and improving yourself each day.
Now that you understand the importance of improving yourself regularly, but how do you do that exactly? Here are some suggestions you may consider:
1. Commit to reading every day
Reading is one of the easiest ways to improve yourself that everyone can practice. Oprah Winfrey, the billionaire media mogul once told in an interview that books changed her life. She is able to widen her perspective and see beyond her current situation through reading books. And you can do the same by committing to read for at least 30 minutes every single day.
2. Visualize the success you want
Another good strategy to improve yourself is through visualization. Studies have found that basketball players who practice shooting through visualization achieve the same improvement in their skills when compared to the players who practice the actual shooting. Therefore, visualize the success you want each day. See yourself as someone successful and you will become successful.
3. Face your fears
One of the most powerful ways to improve yourself is to face your fears. For example, if you are afraid of public speaking, join a toastmaster club. When you face your fear and do it anyway, you get rid of the fear and conquer it completely. If you are afraid of doing something, you should do it because this way, you will improve yourself and the fear will never exist anymore in the future.
4. Learning from the best
Another great method to improve yourself is to learn from the best in your industry. Who do you want to be and who is the best in your field? If you are into investment, who are the best and who can you learn from? Identify these people, read their books, follow them on social media, model their success, attend their seminars, and if possible, get them to be your mentors.
5. Do something fresh and uncomfortable
Each day or each week, you must do something new and something uncomfortable if you want to grow yourself. For instance, you can commute to work using a new route, visit a place you have never been before, try out in a Korean restaurant, or learn to bake a cake. When you do things that you have never done before, you are moving away from your comfort zone and expanding it. You will build better characters and become more confident when you do this.
There will be times when things become tough and you face insurmountable challenges that seem overwhelming, the key to overcoming these situations is to consistently improve yourself. Even if you fail, you must not give up, but rather, choose to dust it off, stand up and work harder to make yourself a better person worthy of success. Remember, the best revenge is to constantly improve yourself.
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