Self Improvement leads to Success

Everything that happens to us happens on purpose. And sometimes, one thing leads to another. Instead of locking yourself up in your cage of fears and crying over past heartaches, embarrassment and failures, treat them as your teachers and they will become your tools in both self improvement and success.

I remember watching the movie Patch Adams. It’s a great film that will help you improve yourself. Hunter “patch” Adams is a medical student who failed to make it through the board exams. After months of suffering in melancholy, depression and suicidal attempts – he decides to seek medical attention and voluntarily admits himself to a psychiatric ward. His months of staying in the hospital lead him to meeting different people. Sick people in fact. He meets a catatonic, a mentally retarded, a schizophrenic and so on. Patch finds ways of treating his own ailment and finally realizes that he has to get back on track. He wakes up one morning realizing that after all the failure and pains he has gone through, he still wants to become a doctor. He carries a positive attitude with himself that brings him self improvement and success. He doesn’t only improve himself, but also the lives of the people around him and their quality of life. Did he succeed? Needless to say, he became the best darn doctor his country has ever known.

So, when does self improvement become synonymous with success? Where do we start? Take a look at these tips:

1. Stop thinking and feeling as if you’re a failure, because you’re not. How can others accept you if YOU can’t accept YOURSELF?

2. When you see gorgeous models on TV, think more of self improvement, not self pitying. Self acceptance is not just about having nice, slender legs, or great abs. Concentrate on inner beauty.

3. When people feel down about themselves, help them to lift themselves up. Don’t go down with them. They could pull you down further and then both of you could end up feeling bad.

4. The world is a large place for lessons, not mistakes. Don’t feel stupid and doomed forever just because you’ve failed on a science quiz. There’s always a next time. Make room for self improvement.

5. Take things one at a time. You don’t expect black sheep to be goody-two-shoes in just a snap of a finger. Self improvement is a one day at a time process.

6. Self improvement results in inner stability, personality development and yes, SUCCESS.

7. Set meaningful and achievable goals. Self improvement doesn’t turn you into an exact replica of Cameron Diaz or Ralph Fiennes. It just aims to result in an improved and better YOU.

8. Little things mean A LOT to other people. Sometimes, we don’t realize that the little things that we do, like a pat on the back, saying “hi” or “hello”, greeting someone “good day” or telling Mr. Smith “hey, I love your tie!”, are simple things that mean so much to other people. When we’re being appreciative about beautiful things and other people around us, we also become beautiful to them.

9. When you’re willing to accept change and go through the process of self improvement, it doesn’t mean that everyone else is. The world is a place where people of different values and attitude live. Sometimes, even if you think you and your best friend like to do the same thing together at the same time, she could easily decline your invitation for self improvement.

We should always remember that there’s no such thing as ‘overnight success’. It’s always a wonderful feeling to hold on to the things that you already have now, realizing that those are just one of the things you once wished for. A very nice quote says that “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” We are all here to learn our lessons. Our parents, school teachers, friends, colleagues, officemates, neighbors… they are our teachers. When we open our doors for self improvement, we increase our chances to head to the road of success.