Every day we have a choice, to go with the flow of the day, or to attempt to be our best. Its not about being THE best but YOUR best. If you aren’t the best version of yourself today, you have robbed the world and yourself of your gifts, for that day! No one can fill this role but you…so every day, choose to be YOUR best, and in so doing, choosing to be GREAT TODAY!
How do we do that? ….
There are two main principals that will work together: finding standards that let you be in your element while becoming the person you want to become.
First, what are you doing when you are in your element, when you are full of life, and when you are at your best? Are there several qualities? To be your best version you need to identify when you are at your best! Are some of those qualities easily controllable? For example, you might work better with full autonomy, or you work better with very clear guidance and direction. Those are completely different, so if this example applies to you, are you positioning yourself for success? Are you a person who works better with full autonomy who works in an environment that is heavy on supervision and micromanagement? Another example might be someone working in finance with a mortgage company, but all they do at work is dream about working with children. Perhaps changing environments and working with a non-profit for children utilizing your financial experience could bring out your best self.
If you are not sure when you are your best, then ask your friends! Your friends should know you the best, and most likely will be very quick to point out when you are your happiest or what you most talk about.
The key here is to identify standards that set you up in position to be YOUR BEST SELF.
The second point has a similar result, but starts from a different position. Understanding where you are now, and looking to where you want to go or who you want to become, what does that ideal person look like? We are not talk about a role model or someone/something extremely unattainable or specific. Here is the example, instead of naming Michael Jordan as your ideal person, or winning 6 NBA titles as your goal, look at the qualities that let “Mike Jordan” become what we know as “Michael Jordan”, such as, an unceasing appetite to become his best, putting basketball performance before everything else in his life, and an uncommon level of competitiveness. Look at qualities within your control. Poor examples of qualities would be having a 42 inch vertical or being 6’6″, both of which are mostly out of your control.
Thus, the key here is to identify standards of qualities that you can implement to work on the path of becoming the person you want become, giving you confidence that if you do those things daily, you will be YOUR BEST SELF.
How can we wrap these two list of standards together? Here is an example of my own life: I wanted to be a very good junior officer in the Marine Corps. I first need to identify what gets me in my element. Given the choice between a staff officer position (who deals with other officers) or a leadership position (who leads a group of Marines), I would prefer the position of a leadership position. Why? Because I am in my natural element when I am working with other people, in a team setting, accomplishing things together. A more simple example is, I know I perform better when I get sleep. With many years of experience, I know I can go 4 hours of sleep a day a make it, but I know I perform substantially better when I get 7-8 hours of sleep. What can I do to put myself in that position? I create a standard: if I need to get up at 5am, I need to be getting ready to shut the lights off by 9-10pm.
As to what I wanted to become, like many officers, I was drawn to the strong and confident captains that I was exposed to early on. Those Marine Corps captains looked and seemed to know everything and do everything. They looked great in their uniforms and knew their craft extremely well. What elements did they portray that I could emulate daily, working my way up to be a strong and confident officer myself? I decided to do physical training (working out) and military studying 5-6 days a week. Those where my new standards. If I focused my efforts on those standards, rather than constantly look at the goal, the results would speak for themselves. And that is exactly what happened.
In conclusion, being your best self often comes down to realizing what unleashes your best self, along with qualities that lead to personal growth. It comes down to standards. What standards are important to me that I will keep myself accountable to do every single day or week? Remember: Its not about being THE BEST but being YOUR BEST…that is how you achieve GREATNESS.
Choose to be Great Today!