Tag: self-improvement

Patience with teaching

It takes strength to be gentle. Anyone can be rude, but it takes self-control, strength, and discipline to be patient and caring.

For example, do you get easily annoyed (and show it) when others aren’t understanding what you’re explaining? Be gentle with them. Try to explain it in another way. Whether that means using a different example (verbally) or using a different teaching method (they may learn better by reading or doing instead of listening), if you really want them to understand what you’re talking about, you need to adapt your teaching style to how they learn best. Regardless of whether your other methods work, at the very minimum you’ll become a better teacher by learning how to use different teaching methods.

Lastly, if you really want someone to learn something, you can be firm with them, but don’t be rude or make disparaging remarks. While that may motivate some people, it will make even more people “shut down.” Then, not only do you lose your chance at a teachable moment, but you also hurt their self-esteem and lose their respect (if only temporarily) in the process.

Competing and confidence

Be confident in your ability to compete. You don’t have to win every time. You won’t win every time. But you can always compete…Try your hardest, have a good attitude whether you win or lose, and make sure you learn from your experiences.

If you don’t like losing, keep practicing. Keep competing. Be a student of the game. What worked well before and what didn’t work? How can you implement what worked and reduce what didn’t to get more consistent results? Become an expert in whatever it is you’re trying to do. With competence comes confidence.

Success, money, and fame

“I’d rather fail with honor than succeed by fraud.” – Sophocles

Don’t trade your integrity for fame, money, or “success.” Those things come and go, but you’ll always have to live with your decisions. Outward success does not mean you’ll feel inward contentment. It may take longer, but if you live in a way where your actions align with your values, you’ll end up happier without sacrificing your honor or time with loved ones. And, to me, that is a truer measure of success than only counting fame or money.

What is the next step?

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. Set yourself up for future success by taking action on the most meaningful next steps as frequently as possible. Figure out what it is you’re trying to achieve then reverse engineer how to get there.

This seems simple enough, and the concept really is, but it’s not easy. We get distracted by trivial tasks on our To Do list that don’t push us forward, by other people’s goals that don’t relate to our own, to life’s obstacles, and to extraneous information that may help us in the future, but not right now. But what we need to keep going back to, what we need to keep refocusing on, is what is the next most important action we need to take and then go do that.

Hobbies and interests

Have healthy hobbies that energize you. It is healthy to have interests that are different than your profession, but it is also healthy to be interested in your profession. If you don’t like what you do, good luck not burning out working 40+ hours per week for the next 20+ years of your life. But if you are consistently looking forward to doing something for your personal and professional growth, if you have hobbies that you enjoy doing and people you can share that excitement with, you’ll last much longer in whatever field you choose.