How To Be The Best Version of Yourself Without Burning Out
22
OCTOBER, 2017
Samuel Osho
The reason why you will empty your pockets to acquire a milligram of diamond and trample on a tonne of molded clay is because your instincts are configured to appreciate value. The stark reason why you place printed papers called currencies in vaults and dump another random paper in the sitting room for everyone to see is value.
You are your most valuable asset. Your life, your mind, your brain, your body, and your skills are the most valuable things you have. In this fast-paced world, your ability to grow, to learn, to become better is unlimited. Simply put, you can be the best version of yourself if you are willing to make the investments. In fact, it is a rule of thumb in personal development as clearly stated by American bestselling author Brian Tracy that anyone interested in a lifelong success should endeavor to invest at least 3 percent of their incomes into their lives for deliberate learning.
Every human is like a script or a slate. What people get to celebrate is the value you add to that script. It is not how old or archaic the script is, it is a matter of how valuable it is. Hence, it is a struggle to move up the ladder of success when you fail to constantly add values to yourself. When you experience promotion in your place of work, it is simply an appreciation for the worth of the value embedded in you.
Anyone who embarks on the journey of life racing like a deer without restraints but forgets to constantly increase his value is aiming for a catastrophe; it is a race to embrace disgrace. It will lead to a burnout.
Therefore, it is highly imperative to explore ways by which you can add more value to your life without experiencing a burnout. I will share three habits of highly valuable people that have been proven to yield bountiful results over the years.
The Three Super Habits
Read Good Books
One of the smartest ways of standing out of the crowd in your chosen field is to read good books. Reading good books is probably one of the cheapest ways to garner knowledge. Some of the world’s highly successful people have one common habit – reading. The world’s richest man, Bill Gates, reads an average of 50 books every year. Another shining star in the billionaire’s club, Warren Buffet is a chronic reader, he once confessed that in the early days of his career, he spends 80% of his day reading. That’s huge! The list of lifelong bookworms is endless – Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Charlie Munger but they seem to be some of the world’s smartest investors and inventors.
One of my mentors once shared with me that the first thing he consults when faced with a challenge is a good book that offers a proven solution. Good books provide answers to your questions; they offer comfort amid chaos. When you have answers to the questions of your colleagues and clients, you become “the chief consultant.” As a result, you ultimately become outstanding in performance and effectiveness. That’s the way to be the best.
Books can change your life. Huffingpost contributor, Himay Zepeda, authored an article that enumerated 7 ways books can change your life. He shared passionately about how reading good books can add confidence, self-knowledge, humility, empathy, and joy to the life of a voracious reader. In fact, American author, Anna Quindlen wrote a book titled “How Reading Changed My Life” to show the world that reading has the power to change lives.
Conclusively, the smartest people read good books. Smart people look for shortcuts and reading is a way of condensing timeframes. They don’t just have a pile of books on their shelf but they read and practice the new things they learnt. Knowing more increases your earning power and sets you up to be the best.
Action Point: Surf the net and look for books that can broaden your horizon in your chosen field. Buy them, get a comfy place, get a marker and start reading.
Take Online Courses
Education is no longer locked in classrooms or serving a prison term behind university gates. Technology is constantly removing all the obstacles that hinder access to quality education. The Internet is a treasure trove of resources that can enhance your competencies in any chosen field. Education just got cheaper with the availability of different online learning platforms. If you can’t afford college and university tuition fees, you really don’t need to break the bank to gain mastery of some certain skills. The Internet can be your teacher even if all you have is YouTube.
However, asides from YouTube, the emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs) is a gamechanger that has the capacity to positively impact the learning experience of Internet users. The popular MOOCs include the following: Udacity, Udemy, Teachable, Skillshare, Shaw Academy, EdX, Coursera, FutureLearn, Class Central, iVersity and much more. These sites serve as homes to a host of courses ranging from data analysis to human resource management to programming to photography to fitness. Using a keyword search, you can find one or two courses that will add more value to your life and career. Majority of these courses are self-paced which means you can take the classes at your convenient times.
Action Point: Visit at least three out of the digital learning websites mentioned above and register for a course that really resonates with your passion.
“I constantly see people rise in life who are not the smartest, sometimes not even the most diligent, but they are learning machines.” – Charlie Munger
Find Mentors
English Mathematician, Isaac Newton, has this to say about mentoring: “If I have seen farther than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” In a world where everyone claims to be self-made, mentoring is gradually fading away and it is one of the profound ways to forge ahead quickly in life. Your mentors can be your role models but not all your role models are your mentors because mentoring requires an active relationship between both parties. Mentoring creates a channel for the smooth exchange of ideas and insights between a mentor (usually an expert) and a mentee (a young professional).
In addition, it is possible for you to have more than one mentor, you can have mentors for different areas of your life. You can have a leadership mentor that helps in building your leadership skills. A tactical mentor can assist in improving your entrepreneurial skills so you can make better decisions as a business owner. A spiritual mentor can be of great help in ensuring you have a sound spiritual and emotional health. There are some classic examples of mentoring or “apprentice pairing” that we often overlook and they are as follows:
- Socrates mentored Plato.
- Aristotle mentored Alexander The Great.
- Thomas Edison mentored Henry Ford.
- George Wythe mentored Thomas Jefferson.
- Benjamin Graham mentored Warren Buffet.
- Steve Jobs mentored Marc Benioff.
- Larry Page mentored Marissa Myers.
Unfortunately, mentoring is becoming unpopular because people think they can handle all the pressures alone. They are too proud and think they don’t need the help of anyone. Some even think it is a sheer waste of time and efforts. Some just loathe the idea of staying accountable to someone else. You can learn many things that are absent on the Internet from an experienced mentor. Mentoring is a support system when it seems like everything is going haywire. Don’t carry the burden alone but seek help by finding a suitable mentor.
However, to maximize mentoring, you must be willing to step out of your shell, be proactive and ready to invest in a healthy and active relationship. Do your personal homework before asking questions. Ask questions only when you are genuinely not clear on what step to take.
Action Point: Get a mentor in your chosen field today. If you find it difficult to locate one, use online services such as MicroMentor, Allen Mentoring, Envelop, Mogul, and iMentor. Connect with a mentor today and add more value to yourself.
Roll up your sleeves, lace your boots and take a deep breath as you add values to yourself – a value added is a step closer to success. Read good books, enrol for online courses and find inspiring mentors.
Let me know your thoughts, which of the three action points do you want to implement right away? How has any of the three action points helped you in the past?
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Welcome to the winning team! I am so glad to have you here. Your life is about to experience a quantum leap. Thanks. Sam.