Refinement.
It doesn't matter where you are in your journey. When you want to improve in life through who you are, what you do, and how you inspire people; you realize that people in great positions say very similar things. The secrets are hidden in plain sight, because they aren't really hidden. It is just your level of awareness that dictates whether you can see the information for what it can be for you. When you are able to take quality information that is given to you and apply it consistently, you get results. That is all we want. We want results.
So how do we improve in life? Well, there are two main pieces of function, with a lot of gray area in between. One, the quality of the information you are receiving. And two, your ability and hunger to receive and understand this information. You can’t truly understand it until you start practicing. You looking at something or hearing it doesn’t automatically mean you understand it. It just means you were able to use your senses to observe a piece of information. From there, you have to make the decision to practice it in order for the light bulb to really go off in the back of your mind. Until that happens, you are simply trying to understand it.
When you do finally understand something in some capacity, you are then faced with your next decision. HOW MUCH do you want to understand something. Do you want to understand just enough to get by? Do you want to understand enough to be good? Enough to be great? Or enough to have no regrets with how much time and effort you put into your mission in life. For me, my sense of self is the most important aspect of me. I spend my days focused on understanding who I want to be and how I am behaving in the current moment to be exactly that. To push through the challenges and live with moral, discipline, respect, and love in the ways I want to see those qualities in others in the world. Whoever is inspired by it, great. Whoever doesn’t like my lifestyle philosophies, that’s ok too. What I do know is that when I focus on being a little bit better at what I value every single day, that is where I create the most joy for myself and the others around me. It isn’t in the moments of escape and trying to have fun. My fun comes in being my potential. That is truly when I have the most fun.
I love exploring my sense of self through the things that I love to do. Those moments of fully immersing myself into searching and refining what I do bring me intense moments of fulfillment, very often. I know what I currently want and I am committed to my attitude of continuous never ending improvement leading the way. I listen to and watch a lot of inspiring people, through interviews, podcasts, and in person encounters. There may be different personal methods, but in my observation, the underlying factors are always extremely similar in how they operate. Especially the ones that are really great. If you accept what is being passed onto you and you create the headspace to receive the information and take it serious enough to go to work with it, results will come in some form. But only if you are consistent. I can not stress this enough. Consistent practice is the only way.
Our time is limited, so being able to understand what is worth your time and what is not, takes personal effort and discovery. It starts with curiosity. Your curiosity will dictate your level of potential. The way you seek knowledge and use your curiosity will become one of your greatest disciplines. While you are working on this aspect of yourself, it allows you to begin to put effort in a particular direction. It sounds so simple, but just getting started is so important. After you begin, if you feel tied to what you are doing, understand that the more you practice the better you will become at fine tuning where your effort and energy is being utilized. When you want to go after something, the quickest way to improve is to learn directly from the people who are doing what you desire. It is not the only way, but it is a faster way. Whether this is a job, a craft, or a personal ability that you want to be able to add to your skillset, you need to spend time learning from those that posses it already. They understand it.
When you seek help fro others that understand what you are looking for, be diligent in recognizing who can teach you. There are many individuals who are great at something, but their ability to pass it on to others in an effective way is a craft in itself. It is much better for your growth when someone is good at teaching versus just having their personal ability to perform. This understanding will differ for everyone but it will come down to your personal perspective and your personal learning style. You have to find out for yourself. If you are always trying to refine your lens and how you see and interpret the world, you will be much more equipped to adapt to different styles of teaching and conversations in order to gain as much from every situation as possible. When you start to refine your approach, you will get much more tunnel vision in your utilization of time and the people that you spend time with and build around. There are monumental leaps that happen when you recognize this. The people you surround yourself will either help you grow, or keep you stagnant. Your growth should be priority and recognizing what and who is holding you back will open up your life in ways you could never even imagine. Don’t remain stuck without even realizing it because you want people to like you. This doesn’t need to create negative feelings toward anyone, it should actually just create positive feeling towards your self and your future. Grow into a version of yourself that you know you can. People that want to come along, will. The others, will no longer hold you back. This will create true connection, and true bonding that outlives a temporary moment.
When you have that realization that you are always able to refine your life, you live differently. You set this as your new intention and you take the time to practice and master it. This is the difference maker in the results you create with this live you get to create with. If you are constantly chasing more information and less practice, you will not be skilled. You will be informed, but not skilled. Being skilled comes from practice. There are millions of people that buy books and pay to go to seminars every weekend. These things are great and necessary for personal development. But if it was strictly the information exchange that creates success, every single one of these people would be on their way to greatness right after they read the book or participated in the event. But that is not the case. It is WHAT YOU DO after you receive that information that will dictate what happens.
The quality of information your receive, how you receive it, and then what you do with it is a never ending process that will always need refining. Refining this process over the course of your life is what will lead you to a version of you that you will be proud of. If you do it for you, and if you do it for the right reasons. It is the constant effort to continue this process through all of the challenges and all of the wins that shows us what we are really capable of. Focus on yourself with the awareness of how this process of refinement will help shape you. Continue refining you, and you will continuously inspire the world around you to do the same.
Be the change that you want to see in the world. What you do matters.