What is between you and your best version?

We are tangled between being the best at work and life all at the same time! For instance, our work years get busier as we grow in a firm and at the same time our life responsibilities continue to grow through commitments, we make such as marriage, kids etc. There is a huge shortage of time as both work and life need almost equal attention during our peak years. So, what holds us back from achieving our best self and in fact more than 80% of humans never really reach their true potential neither in life nor at work. I have been thinking about this gap and felt a need to share a few thoughts about the two big drivers that impact addressing this gap.

We are social beings!

Often we are surrounded by people who have opinions on things we do and this applies to both work and life. These opinions in most cases drive behavior which at some point gets you to a spot in your life and career where you wonder how did you land in this spot to begin with. The internet culture has also rewired our brain's feedback loop which creates a need for immediate gratification in everything we do. Achieving big goals is about patience, long term commitment, and there are no short cuts.

Judgments and opinions are like clouds, with time they pass. We need to continue believing in our own abilities and continue building them.

The Power of You

Once we move past worrying about what others have to say about us, its time to take control of what you can really achieve or aspire to achieve. Most often we rarely leverage the "power of you". In my own words, this is your ability to subtract the noise deliberately and focus on things that matter to you until it become a subconscious act (expert level). This power can work for or against you, if you are someone caring more about what others have to say - it will send you backwards, and instead if you are carefree it will propel you forward.

What can help you in achieving your best performances consistently:

1. Starts with people : As much as you want to care-less about opinions and judgements, its true that it takes a village to achieve something major in our lifetime. Finding a circle of individuals who can coach, mentor, and act like a sounding board will go a long way. Build a strong inner circle of people that care for you and you believe you can rely on them. The key is the multi-faceted perspectives that can help you see a clearer picture, which may be the only thing you need to get to where you want to go.
2. Focus on outcomes : As one of my most admired boss once said, "focusing on outcomes speaks volumes" about you. Be it at work, or life, we need to continue focusing on the outcomes, and just get things done! Most often we forget that showing up and getting things done can change the future, we given up too early. Staying resilient and keep getting things done is good enough to be successful. There is no silver bullet. (Barack Obama)
3. Adopt a growth mindset : Trust your skills and experience however continuous improvement is the name of the game. No one person is born with abilities that made them successful. Believing that every skill is learnable is a mindset shift. The true power of you, really only works if you have a growth mindset.
4. Life is bigger than your goals: Focusing on just your goals can be counter intuitive to your performance. A very common quote I heard is "Enjoy the process vs. results". This is so true, if we can enjoy the process results will follow, and if they don't - continue to adopt a growth mindset and tweak the process. Enjoying the process is about observing the nuances, feeling the changes around you, making connections, and laughing when you fail. This is tough but it creates a sense of optimism, enables appreciation, and ultimately helps you realize the well spent no regret time learning or leaning into a person or a job at hand.

The bottom line is that YOU HAVE THE POWER to stop or use what you consume as input for your journey and realizing YOU HAVE THE POWER to control your own actions. Keep that power and continue growing.

Good luck.