Your Next You

Certain people figure this out sooner than others. And, then, some do not figure it out at all. With the help of God, you can reinvent yourself. There are many tools that He gives us: the Bible, others in faith, self-awareness, and the desire to change the undesirable aspects of ourselves.

Each day, a select percentage of the world's population is working extremely hard to reinvent, rediscover, and reinvigorate themselves. Whether you are a believer in God or just coming to the table, there is hope in losing that extra weight, breaking free from addiction, or shedding friends who do not serve you well.

Forbes magazine featured an article on 14 Things Every Successful Person Has in Common. Though the article is dated by nearly a decade, the shared qualities of successful people are still relevant today:

1. They know when it is time to move on. Think workplaces, hobbies that do not serve you well, toxic relationships.

2. They do more than the minimum. Extra effort is put in that benefits not only themselves, but others.

3. They will fail to be able to succeed. Everyone fails and most people fail multiple times.

4. They do at least one great thing a day to be successful. This requires hard work and dedication.

5. They set realistic goals. This is a good one. I remember many of my goals were completely unrealistic.

6. They take accountability for themselves. Does this quality hit home? It absolutely did for me. Years after my divorce, I am still working at this quality.

7. They influence positive change. Successful people do not wait for someone else to come up with the great idea or solve the problem.

8. They adjust in the workplace. In the military world, they call this adapting and overcoming. New leaders, difficult missions that are underfunded, and more.

9. They communicate well. I think another aspect of this is that successful people know how to control their emotions while communicating.

10. They ask questions to subject matter experts. You do not become successful overnight. You need to lean on others.

11. They continuously learn and push themselves. I love learning from others, especially in the workplace and in self-improvement groups.

12. They are confident and do not waste time that they are not good at. This is interesting and explains why I do not spend time at practicing math.

13. They love the journey. It is all about the journey. My journey towards improving myself and leaning on God took longer than I expected.

14. They create more than they consume. It is easy to binge watch Netflix. But how does watching Love is Blind going to help you and those you care about?

I will add another item to the list. Successful people are understanding of others by way of demonstrating various aspects of their high emotional intelligence. Having compassion and empathy is not enough. You need to demonstrate these attributes through your actions. When I was recovering from my divorce, I wanted to start doing for others. Small acts of kindness such as feeding the homeless, listening to a friend, and diligently working to include an outsider, not only benefit others, but also us in an indirect way.

You are encouraged to take an inventory of the list of 14 (+1) attributes of every successful person. Be honest with yourself when writing down your existing strengths and weaknesses with your favorite pen. It is only when we are honest with ourselves that we will be able to change and reinvent through grace offered by our higher power. Ask for forgiveness. Forgive yourself as you are forgiven. And move forward without looking back! This may take a few times before you are able to succeed.

The key is not to give up and work towards continuous improvement of yourself. Those in the business world understand this best as continuous process improvement (CPI). Though the concept is about processes, and not focused on people, we can still learn very much from CPI.

The concepts of CPI include:

1. Analyzing performance.

2. Identifying opportunities to rid waste.

3. Making incremental changes to improve the process.

4. Drive efficiency.

5. Improve quality/output.

6. Deliver value.

When reinventing oneself, we can turn to the above concepts to improve our being. (Be careful about driving efficiency, though. After all, we are not machines.)

Once you start reinventing yourself in one aspect of your life, you will want the change to multiply! Be sure to let me know how you are doing so I can cheer you on as you work towards shedding habits and relationships which do not serve you well and move towards successful, positive outcomes.

Best,
Rob