Wallowing in self pity is a common ailment suffered by many. We rue the missed opportunities, regret the poor decisions we took, find fault with others who we feel have betrayed or let us down and / or simply curse our fate. While some or most of our reasons for our inability to realise our full potential may have some merit, the bitter truth is that we have to accept the reality that we haven’t optimized our potential and focus on finding ways to move ahead in life. This is best done by letting bygones be bygones and appreciating the riches we still posses and using that more productively.
To do this we need to systematically work on the following 4 aspects
Leave the past behind – Longfellow, the poet, said it beautifully in his poem ‘ The Psalm of Life’ ‘ Let the dead past bury its dead’ While we do tend to lapse into brooding about the days gone by, it is essential that we do not live in the past world. The past cannot be changed nor rewritten. However we can learn from the past experiences, mistakes and follies that we committed. However it is essential that we use the past as only a reference point to be alert and avoid the mistakes we made. It should never be used as crutch to lean on to justify the missed opportunities or rue the chances we did not take or lament about our lack of daring when we could have crossed the chasm in one giant leap.
Utilize the present – Making a clean break with the past is tough but tougher still is utilizing the fresh opportunities that come our way everyday. Many opportunities come disguised as hard work, some come in the form of risks to be taken while most come in the guise of boring, repetitive and mundane work. The challenge then is to be conscientious, bold, efficient and proactive. It is not enough to do a task but one must do it with a smile, bring verve and panache to it and most of all ensure that we can add some more value to our efforts. The difference you create in the task you do will be the difference that will be noticed and rewarded.
Experiment with change – We are conditioned to be logical, methodical and go by the book in most things we do. What distinguishes the winner from the loser is the winners ability to confront problems, failures, disappointments, discouragement and bouts of self doubt with innovative techniques, experimentation and leaving one’s unique imprint behind. None of this is fail safe for there is very real risk of things getting botched up, but the rewards of success far outweigh the risks of failure. Every new idea that succeeds is a tribute to the grit, determination and confidence of those who dared to think differently, dream big and create something unique.
Redesign your future – Behind every success there will invariably be an undercurrent of mistakes, failures and disappointments. However, those who succeed planned to succeed by outlining their future goals, visualizing the path to those goals and as Robert Frost put in verse traveling ‘ miles to go before I sleep’. Designing the future is not limited to entrepreneurs but is the prerogative of every human being. The trick in redesigning the future lies in making a realistic assessment of one’s own self, figuring out one’s strengths, being aware of one’s weakness and using this paradigm as a base telescope the mind to figure out areas of our passion/ interest and exploring the innumerable opportunities that exist in this canvas before us.
So have you finished lamenting? There is no time like the present moment to change your attitude, your beliefs, your goals and yourself.
Try this:
Do something outlandish – here are some suggestions to choose from but you can come up with your own dares for yourself
- Spend a day at a prison interacting with prisoners
- Attend a religious service of a different faith
- Make a kite and get a neighboring kid to help you too
- Watch a regional language movie (of a language you don’t understand and which has no subtitles)
If you had to give a donation of a substantial sum to a cause what cause would you donate it to? Instead of donating money to the cause can you spend 1 hour a week for 6 months working on that cause?
This post is courtesy www.actspot.com
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