5 Steps To Unlock The Best You.
Introduction
Very often, a lot of us say or ask questions like, “Am I good enough?”, “ I can’t do it", “I’ve gotten this big contract…I have achieved my dream", “ How do I get good grades?”. We want to do better and be more productive but sometimes we listen to alot of negative things that try to set us back.
Whether or not life is going the way you planned, strive to come out on top. Don’t let little set backs keep you down.
In this article, I will help you answer the question “What can I do to bring out the best in me?”
Steps to Unlock the Best in You.
- Decide to be better:
To answer the question, “what can I do to bring out the best in me?” you must first make the decision to be better. Don’t be satisfied with where you are or what you have achieved; what I mean is, don’t stop at your latest achievements rather try to do more and reach a higher level than you are right now. God has a plan for each and every one of us. He has put in us, gifts and what it takes to uncover them.
To uncover these gift, we must first decide to be better and do what it takes to live our best lives. It is just like making a decision to excel in school and then you work towards it by doing things like studying, going for classes, getting into study groups etc. That is what I am asking you to do. Decide to be better and then put effort into making it work and watch how you unlock your God given gifts and be the best.
- Develop better habits:
Once you have decided to be better the next step is to develop and maintain good habits. Do things that will encourage your decision to be better. Let’s define “habit”. According to the dictionary, habit is an action performed repeatedly and automatically, usually without awareness. This means, habit is something we do without thinking.
From the moment we wake up, all through the day, till we go to bed again, everything we do is on reflex that is, it is habitual. We might have good habits or bad habits. Which ever habit we feed, will always surface. When we cultivate bad habits, it keeps us from actualizing what God has for us. It stops us from being better. Let me give you an instance. There was a girl, Rita. She battled with spots on her face. She had a habit of bathing late and using her towel unwashed for a month. She needed a remedy to remove those spots. Then one day she asked a friend that had a smooth and spot free face, what her secret was. She told Rita, “its no secret. I just keep clean. I don’t use my towel for more than two weeks without washing it; I bathe regularly and drink lots of water". Rita did the same things and soon, her spots had reduced and later, were gone.
Now just like Rita, some of us keep bad habits like, impatience, complaints, nagging, procastination etc. That doesn’t let us move forward. These habits keep us from reaching a higher level in life. We may not realise it, but they do. On the other hand, when we embrace good habits such as patience, perseverance etc. Things will start to change for the better. Remember that you can’t keep doing what you have always done and expect new results. Discipline yourself and change those bad habits. You will see yourself being more productive. Note down what you do everyday and outline those habits that you know cannot get you to be better and get rid of them then accept good habits that will get the work done.
God has a plan for you and until you change the way you go about life, you can’t see or grasp what He has for you.
- Associate with the right people:
Naturally, to bring out the best in yourself you need to move with the right crowd. You can’t move with the wrong people and expect to grow. Instead you remain stagnant. Being around the right people and maintaining a good relationship with them will bring out the best in you.
According to Joel Osteen, “You cannot hang around with chickens and expect to reach your destiny". What he was trying to say here is that you cannot move with people that hinder your growth and limit your potential and expect to move forward in life. Find or relate with people that have your dream or encourage you to dream big.
You have so much in you that is just waiting to get free. To unlock it, one of the important things to do is move with the right people. Move with people that inspire you to do more, achieve more. Don’t associate with people that cause you to keep compromising and second-guessing. I know it can be hard to let go of some people in your life but to take that big step, you are going to have to drop some friends or relationships that are holding you back.
- Remain optimistic and passionate:
As an individual, you have to level up in life. Up your game! God doesn’t want us to just be average. He wants us to grow and keep growing therefore, He has put in each and everyone of us what it takes to be higher. One very important lesson I have learnt is that words are powerful. They can make or mar us. A bad word, sentence of phrase can keep you down for years. That is why you must speak to yourself and say things like, “I can make it", “I’m built for greatness", “I have what it takes", “I am a child of God". Say things to yourself like that and watch how you will step up and rise. So many times we have allowed what others say about us to keep us down. We allow one negative speech or word stop us but it shouldn’t be like that. Start seeing yourself the way our creator sees you. When you start to speak positively to yourself, the way you view life will automatically change. From being a pessimist, always seeing the negative and anticipating the worst, you become optimistic, always seeing the good in everything and at the same time building your self-esteem so you can attain what God has for you.
As you learn to be more optimistic also learn to be passionate about life. So many people allowed what is happening in their past, a bad situation, a poor grade or an illness to keep them down. Don’t let that happen. Change your mindset, let go of your past, dream big and don’t let the events of yesterday pull you down. So what if you don’t get that 'A’, that post, that job, stay positive and passionate. As most Nigerian youth’s would say, “stay woke”. Wake up every morning with a new fire and a purpose. The secret to moving forward is to let go of your past. People I know tell me about how depressed they feel, how life no longer interest them but if you knew what your maker has planned for you, you will quit complaining and step up. I understand that life generally, isn’t easy but we have to try to look past all of that and find our happiness. God loves us and cares about us. He doesn’t want us to give up. Life isn’t easy, agreed. But learn to trust God. The problems we face today wouldn’t be thrown our way if God didn’t give us what it takes to conquer. So put on a new attitude, get your drive and remain positive.
- Keep moving forward:
Someone told me that her best accomplishments will be in her future. After thinking about this I understood what she meant. What she was trying to say was that, she might have achieved things in the past but the best will be the one she achieves tomorrow and the day after that.
Throughout the other steps there has been one re-occurring factor that is, to push forward. Don’t let anything; be it a bad experience, a bad grade, a negative feedback or word to set you back. Keep in mind that God wants to do a new thing in your life. When He gives you that 'A’, that job or whatever, He will continue to lift you higher. Yes, you might have gotten what you want or achieved that dream but don’t stop there, keep dreaming! You dream and you get or achieve it, dream again and again. Don’t remain where you are over comfortable with what you have gotten full-stop strive to be more and pull all you do in the maker’s hands and watch yourself excel!
Conclusion
There is this bright light in everyone. You have what it takes to not only get the best out of life but unlock the best in yourself. God has plans for each of us, so don’t let the size of God’s plan or how He views you put fear or doubt in you stand firm and trust him. Be an inspiration to someone today!!
