How to improve ourselves? (II)
“I think I’m better than everyone else. An opinion that has been backed up with ample evidence.”
Cassandra Clare
I started a series yesterday about how to improve ourselves and funny enough, this would continue for some days until I complete it all because I wouldn't want to write a whole journal since it will definitely bore you even if you find it interesting. Lol
I started with keeping your personal information to yourself and only saying the necessary things. You can find the post here; How to improve ourselves?
I don't want to go into summarizing again since you can just click the link to read it if you haven't read it.
So the second segment would be;
Stop trying to please everyone. Give importance to yourself.
We all deserve the best in life and we don't want to be controlled by anyone. We all know that in this life, you can never please everyone because their opinions about you would definitely bring you down and make you think you aren't perfect or good at what you do. People want to know everything about you. They are happy pushing you to the front, to the back and taking a lead in your life and if you are not careful, you become an idiot who can't take charge of his or her life.
How do we give importance to ourselves?
Be honest with yourself, your opinions about yourself and your work in general. Don't make people think you aren't good with what you do. Don't let them see you as a coward but take your work so dearly without anyone's criticism. You need to be honest with yourself and not let people's opinions dictate your life.
Learn to love yourself. If you do not learn to love yourself, no one will love you. There is great importance in seeing yourself as the best and appreciating the person you have become. The way you see or place yourself, people will place you. If you think you aren't good enough, they will see you like that. If you think you have nothing to offer, then be ready for them to see you that way. You must value yourself because you are special and of worth.
Take care of yourself and treat yourself. No matter how little your income is, try to take care of yourself, take yourself out for fun and do not let people take advantage of you. When you take care of yourself and dress nicely, no one will disvalue you. You are very important to yourself and you should treat yourself like an angel.
Believe in yourself. The best achievement in life is to believe in yourself because when you do, no one will take you to be weak.
According to Roy T. Bennett, he said and I quote "Believe in your infinite potential. Your only limitations are those you set upon yourself".
You can never identify your potential if you place people to give you opinions about you. Going to meet them every time would make you depressed except for those who truly see greatness in you and want you to succeed. You will only limit yourself when you put others to validate you. Stop waiting for them, but believe in yourself that you have enough potential and you should be ready to unleash them and see how fulfilled you are.
Whatever you do, do it with confidence because that is a way to give yourself importance. Some may term your self-importance as ego and they may feel like talking behind you. If you then think you are losing them and because of that, you try bringing yourself to them, trying to please them and make them order your life, that is the end. You will continue to be subjected under their lead and from there, you lose your confidence and ruin your potential. Stay away from those who do not see value in you but want to keep giving wrong and negative opinions, trying to make you lose focus and stop being creative.
Let me end with a story I read online which relates to this article
A man named Tagore had a disciple who was very good at painting. However, he was worried about what people thought about him and his work and their opinions on his work. He went to meet his master to complain, and many times, Tagore would tell him to listen to his heart and never believe what people say about his work. Still, he was worried and this hindered his creativity.
One day, he made a portrait of his master and showed him. His master was pleased and complimented him. He was still not satisfied and told his master he needs people's opinions and thoughts on his work. Tagore assured him that his work was perfect. When he insisted on getting their opinions, Tagore allowed him and thought it was an opportunity to impart a lesson.
He told his disciple to take the portrait and the original, with a set of pencils and a note asking for people's opinion and then take it to the market square and drop it there till evening, then he should bring it back home.
He got home obviously upset and downcast. He said to his master "but you told me it was perfect. See what people did. They brought out many mistakes"
Tagore heaved a sigh and asked him what he wrote on the note. He said "Please compare this portrait with the original and mark wherever you see a mistake"
He told him he would have to take it back again and this time around, he would write on the note "Please compare this portrait with the original and correct any anomalies" by erasing the black spots they painted on the portrait.
He was surprised not to see anything written on it despite being the same sketching as the first experiment.
People are good at criticizing your work but are not ready to correct things for you. They wouldn't want to see your progress. You need to believe in what you do, only by then would you scale through because there wouldn't be any limitations to your success or breakthrough.
I hope you enjoyed my article.
To be continued...
Thanks for reading
Image by Olia on Unsplash, designed on Canva
This is one of the best lessons in life that I hold dear in my heart because I learned it the hard way. It is very liberating when we don't live to please others.