20 Jul
In the words of Mark Twain, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” I could say that life is a journey—a journey of self-discovery.
You can never become the best version of yourself until you have identified your purpose. The main reason why people miss it in life is because they fail to identify their purpose.
This is why they tend to be dissatisfied with their lives, and they lose hope in life. The best version of you begins with a discovery of who you are.
Who am I?
This is a relative question that only one person can answer. One thing about life is that, consciously or unconsciously, you are constantly answering this question.
This is one question that guides the entire life of every human being because the answer affects the answer to every other question in life.
A very beautiful feature of life is the presence of ‘choice.’ Choice occurs at every moment and stage of life.
Just as when you are traveling, you decide the destination and the mode of transportation, so also, in life, you discover who you are meant to be and decide how to become that person.
The beautiful thing about choice is that it always has a corresponding effect. This is why the sentence “I have no choice” should not exist.
This is because every human being has a choice. We choose options with the least negative consequences when applied to our situation.
There are three important stages of the journey of every human being, as follows:
Childhood
I would say that although parents make decisions for their children, children still have a choice. They obey their parents because they always believe in them while they are very young, and when they grow a bit older, they realize the benefits of obedience are greater than the consequences of disobedience to their parents.
Youthful Stage
This is the stage where you can make the most improvements to yourself. I know you are asking, “Why?”
The reason is simple: as a youth, you are in the most critical stage of your life, where your choices either make or mar you. This is the determining period for future satisfaction or regret.
It is a period of life-changing opportunities. This is when you determine who you are and what you stand for. This is when you see who you want to be.
Self-improvement for youths involves making decisions that align with their purpose to avoid regrets in the future.
Old Age
This is the period of storytelling. One thing I learned from Gbile Akanni’s book, “The Battle for the Young,” is that old people tend to talk about their past mistakes.
They live in the memories of “what was” or “what could have been.” Self-improvement for old people involves accepting that they have made mistakes, but such mistakes should not define the rest of their lives.
Note: Self-improvement begins with the discovery of purpose; you cannot improve what you do not know and understand.
For self-improvement to occur, youths must be willing to learn from older people who once walked the paths they now walk to avoid making the same mistakes they made. In the same vein, older people must see their past as history and their future as their opportunity to rewrite their stories however they can.
What Does It Mean To Be The Best Version Of Yourself? (From a point of view of the eight dimensions of wellness)
To be the best version of yourself, you need to be in harmony with yourself. You must define what you want for yourself in various areas of life and make informed decisions that align with what you want.
Never make the mistake of living a purposeless life so that your life is not controlled by the dictates of situations, circumstances, other people, or society.
The journey to becoming the best version of yourself is a holistic one. This means that bringing out the best in you involves ensuring balance in all areas of your life.
When I say balance, I do not mean that you should give equal attention to all areas of your life. No! I mean, you should give attention to all areas of your life based on the results you have planned to obtain from each aspect.
What it means for one to be the best version of themselves is clearly explained in the eight dimensions of the wellness model developed by Peggy Swarbrick. The eight dimensions of wellness state the eight major aspects of human life and explain how each aspect affects the individual. They are:
1. Physical Dimension
This is taking care of your body, which is important to maintaining your physical health.
2. Intellectual Dimension
This means being open to learning. It involves maintaining the curiosity to learn, valuing knowledge, and being receptive to intellectual challenges.
It involves acquiring knowledge and skills and using those skills to solve problems in everyday life.
3. Emotional Dimension
This is your ability to identify, understand, and uphold your own values and feelings, as well as those of others.
To become a better version of yourself, you must have a positive attitude towards life and also possess the ability to manage your emotions.
4. Social Dimension
This is your ability to build and maintain healthy relationships and also contribute to your community.
This is of the essence because your ability to interact with people goes a long way in determining how far you go in life.
5. Spiritual Dimension
This is your ability to uphold your personal beliefs and values. It involves identifying your purpose based on your religion, beliefs, and values.
6. Vocational Dimension
This is identifying your passion and working towards it. It involves skill acquisition and application. It is about developing the skills that one has and improving on those skills regularly.
7. Financial Dimension
This is the ability to effectively manage your finances towards achieving your life’s goals. It entails understanding that everyone’s financial needs, priorities, and situations are peculiar.
8. Environment Dimension
This means knowing how your environment affects you and how to interact with it. It also has to do with taking care of your environment and ensuring it does not serve as a hindrance to you in any way.
To be whole as a human being, you must identify and develop these eight aspects of your life to bring out the best in you.
Who Does Society Expect Me To Be? (Striking A Balance Between Personal And Societal Standards)
Do you know that everyone in this world has been affected by the bandwagon effect at one point in their lives or another? What exactly is the bandwagon effect?
The bandwagon effect is making decisions or choosing to do things simply because others are doing it. Now, let me explain two major things that the bandwagon effect does to the individual.
First, there is no inner motivation for an individual whose reason for doing things is simply because others are doing it. Secondly, when you do things simply because others are doing it, you cannot get extraordinary results because you tend to do it their way.
There are two major things that one could get from society, they are: values or vices.
Values are the positive patterns of behavior in the society which a responsible individual is expected to imbibe.
On the other hand, vices are negative patterns of behavior in society which every responsible individual is expected to avoid.
There are times when in a bid to meet up with societal standards, people break their personal principles so as to secure acceptance; this is very wrong.
Striking a balance between personal and societal standards involves taking personal responsibility for one’s life. This means defining one’s own principles and living by them at all times and imbibing societal virtues and values while renouncing societal vices.
It means defining your individuality as an individual member of society so that you are not swayed by collectivity.
Define your individuality today!
7 Key Steps To Becoming The Best Version Of Yourself: How Do I Add Value To Myself?
1. Identify Your Purpose
Know your purpose in life, and let every action of yours be directed towards that purpose. You have to stand for something so you do not fall for anything.
2. Have A Vision
Every great accomplishment begins in the mind; that which you have not conceived, you cannot become. See beyond your current position and limitations.
3. Have Plans
Develop plans that align with your vision and purpose. Break down your plans into daily and monthly goals, and make sure you stick to them.
4. Read Books
The solution to that seemingly impossible situation lies within the pages of a book, waiting for you to discover it. Read books that align with your purpose regularly; it could be weekly or monthly.
5. Have Mentors
Have mentors and learn from them. It is foolish to make the same mistakes as your mentor; it means you did not learn. Mentors teach you what to do and advise you on what you should not do.
6. Have The Right Friends
Have friends whose purpose and vision align with yours. Your friends would either encourage you or discourage you, lift you, or bring you down. The people you journey with determine how far you go in life.
7. Evaluate Your Actions
This is very important for self-improvement. Learn from every experience, especially yours. Do not make the same mistake twice.
Measuring Self-improvement
The measuring unit of self-improvement is the past versus the present, which is equal to the future. Yes, in self-improvement, it is extremely wrong to compare yourself to others.
You should look at where you were in the past and where you are now. Identify and appreciate your progress, amend your mistakes, and apply the lessons learned in the present and future.
While evaluating past actions, do not allow past accomplishments to make you overly confident.
Also, the lives of others are to be learned from and not used as a yardstick for measuring one’s success. Do not feel bad because others are doing well; be focused on improving yourself.
Conclusion
You become a better version of yourself when you learn from others and your past mistakes and effectively apply them in carrying out your future activities while ensuring that you avoid the mistakes and apply all successful strategies.
When you achieve great results, appreciate it, but do not reduce your effort; intensify it.
Ready to enjoy the value Precious Crafts Ltd offers?
The typical ways of drafting content can be fussy, expensive and slow to scale.
Newsletter
signup to our newsletter, to get the latest updates on our promotions and offers
Blog Hits
We served all:
Brands
Publishers
E-commerce
Individuals
Services
Quick Links
Policies
Industries
Agencies
Copyright © 2023. All Rights Reserved.