13 simple hacks to become the best version of yourself!!

Ask legends from any industry, what is their greatest achievement? One common answer you get is "I am happy I could reach my full potential".

We all struggle to discover the best potential inside us. Many a times we get lost in the crowd because the opportunities that come our way look like the best option. In this age, where we have a pool of jobs in different fields and industries growing at a fast pace, its important one takes out some time to think about their best potential. The satisfaction of knowing we are utilizing our best set of skills at our job and in life provides a great sense of self confidence and helps in reducing stress levels. The quality of life becomes better in turn giving shape to better and happy families and societies. The pressure of fitting in can make us try to adopt a personality that is not entirely ours and over time it can cause a tremendous amount of stress.

So here are a few ways by which one can carry their own personality in society without any pressure to fit in.

1.     Take full responsibility

Recognize that the best version of yourself should be your vision, not anybody else’s. Don’t waste energy trying to live up to what somebody else wants you to be. Stop putting the responsibility of who you are and who you becoming on external factors. When becoming your best, you first must believe that becoming better is in your full control. Take onus of who you are and own what you’ve been doing up to this point. Try to be real with yourself and believe that it’s your own hard work that got you so far in life.  You are in the driver’s seat of your life, even when it doesn’t feel like it you are and today you are moving in a different direction. Once you take 100% responsibility, you will change the direction of your life and take it where you want to.

2.     Learn

Stop pretending to know things you don’t know. You’ll never learn anything if you pretend to already know everything.. This is one of the most important step towards greatness, we stop learning once we are out of college. Ask yourself what is one thing you could learn how to do, that would have a dramatic positive effect on your life? Is it, becoming a better communicator, or writer, or better study habits, stronger time management skills, better parent, better partner etc. Identify one thing that you can learn that would impact your life, work or school. And, work towards learning it.  

3.     Create

When was the last time you created something? For example, a blog post, a thank you note, a recent chapter in your book, or a new workout routine. Imagine if you got into the habit of creating every day, of convincing yourself that you can create anything you want. You can create the life you want but you just need to start. What is one small meaningful thing you can create today? Once your creative energies are rolling, it will open new opportunities and take you closer to who you want to become. 

4.     Take massive action

Stop looking for a secret trick. There is no miraculous shortcut to the better version of yourself. What will other people think? What if I fail? How difficult will it really be? Reflecting and analyzing is great and can help you make better decisions, but overthinking is deadly. Overthinking kills your courage, creativity and consistency. Move forward. Pay attention. Adjust. Move again. Make sure you spend every day moving just a tiny bit closer to your best. Remember path to success is massive action.  

5.     You are the sum of the people who you spend time with.

Do the people around you bring out your best? This is a simple question, that just can’t be avoided. If I were to ask you, “During the hard times, who contributed to the pain, failure and lack of progress? You could probably give me a list, right? The same is true about our great times. Great times come from being with great people. Commit to only surround yourself with amazing people. If you can’t find any, look in new places. They’re out there, and they’re waiting to meet you, and believe in you. If you do not find them in person, you can find them in books, videos, podcasts etc. 

6.     Stay excited

Are you happy? No, let me ask you differently …are you excited about your life? I wish I could tell you that working on yourself and your dreams is easy. Most of the times t’s not. Bluntly put, most of the time you will feel like quitting. And for a short while, you just might. The idea here is to get excited about what you’re doing and remind yourself all the time that you have greatness within you and all the great things that are coming into your life. Stay excited about your work. Know that your best days are ahead of you, no matter what your age is. 

7.     Travel and Explore

Where have you been lately? It doesn’t matter if it’s abroad or within your own self. It’s time to travel, the need to explore new places, new people, new ways of looking at the world, new perspective on problems and exploring new interests that we didn’t even know we had yet. It’s very difficult for us to know what we want in life, if we haven’t explored our life enough to see what’s really inside of us. And, what’s inside of us only gets mixed up and brought to the surface when we explore, get out of our comfort zone and force ourselves to figure things out. So, the next time you have an opportunity to explore, just simply go for it. On the other side of fear lies great opportunities. 

8.     Enjoy the journey

Becoming a better person, a leader, a success story – all takes times. Trust me there will be days where it feels like you are making no progress at all. There will be times when you are convinced that all this effort is not worth it. That’s when you know you’re taking everything a little too serious and you need to have fun again.

Be excited about the problems you have. See them as blessing. Most problems people have, are really, good problems. For example, if you’re having a hard time starting your business, think about the amazing and rare opportunity you have to even start one, own one, and get it going. People would kill for that kind of problem or even if you have lost a loved one, thing about the amazing relationship that you were so blessed to have, knowing that not everyone has that same opportunity. Take a step back, have fun and know that it’s all part of your beautiful journey. Understand that everything we are going through at this moment is there to teach us something that will help us go to the next level.

9.     Disconnect

There will be times when you need to completely turn off and shut down. Literally, just like your computer. It’s amazing how that thing works 10X better when you restart it. You’re the same way. Whether you’re working on yourself, a new work routine, rebuilding a broken relationship, changing careers…find time to pause, rest and chill. 

10. Love yourself

Celebrate the small wins, another huge one right here! Loving yourself is huge! It’s everything. Just take a second now and say, “I love myself.” Breathe. Say it again. See how that feels. None of us are perfect and we will never be. We can’t become better people if we are constantly putting ourselves down and injecting shame into our life. Shame is one of the most powerful negative emotions we can feel and will stop us dead in our tracks to growth. Love yourself.  

11. Love others

Think about some people in your life who support you. Have you told them recently how great you think they are. Think about someone who has wronged you, criticized you or talked behind your back. Are you still angry with them? Will you love everyone, of course not. But, it’s fair to say that everyone deserves forgiveness and, that loving others makes you feel better, in control and stronger. We have all made mistakes. And, we have all appreciated when someone forgave us so pay it forward. When you love someone who has wronged you, you are taking full control of how you feel and are no longer allowing them to run the emotional show in your mind. 

12. Take Risks and Have Faith

When was the last time you did something that scared you? And, it doesn’t have to be skydiving, or shark cage diving. Even though, I can’t wait to do those things! Maybe, it’s making a phone call or looking for a new job, taking a class or learning a new skill. Maybe, it’s finally putting down the concern of other people’s opinions of what you should be doing with your life. Take the risk. Take the plunge. Take the leap. You’re worth it and you will figure it out but you need to have faith. 

13. Help other people become the best version of themselves. 

Pay it forward because doing so will keep you motivated on your own path, and you’ll find that the lasting connections you build from helping others will greatly benefit you in moving forward.