How to Strive to Be the Best

Here’s a fact: The best gets better things in life.

Whether you admit it or not but “TO BE THE BEST” is what most of us wish for. It is part of human nature that people strive and work hard in life to stand out among others. In work, particularly, we spend 8 hours or more of our time not without a purpose. We strive hard to be able to achieve finer things in life.

However, the problem in most of us is that we think that being the best is difficult to achieve and so we settle in mediocrity. We settle in being “just good enough” rather than striving for the best. Because of this mentality we fall short in our efforts. But truth is, striving for excellence is not as complicated as what most people think. A little change in the way of thinking can help us achieve excellence.

Here are the simple things we can do that can help us in our journey towards excellence.

Step 1: Stay Proactive

Pragmatically speaking, proactive people are the ones that become the most valuable employees and they are those people who have more chance to be promoted in the workplace.

Proactive people look in the future, move forward and have more control over the situation. Basically, proactiveness means you are in control you make things happens rather than waiting for things to happen before responding.

It might be confusing to determine the difference between proactive and reactive responses in the workplace. But let’s put it this way; when you are proactive you try to avoid threats; you anticipate future opportunities and take advantage of it for your benefit. On the other hand, a reactive person wait for the threat to happen before it make changes to avoid further damage and opportunities are not fully capitalized because of lack of preparation.

“Reactive people are often affected by their physical environment. If the weather is good, they feel good. If it isn’t, it affects their attitude and their performance. Proactive people can carry their own weather with them.” -Stephen R. Covey

Step 2: Adapt and Adjust to Unexpected Situations

Change is constant. Cliché as it is but true. As individual seeking for success, you have to prepare yourself for changes. In the world where developments, discoveries and explorations are inevitable, learn from your experiences and figure out a way to adapt with the developments and changes in life.

Change happen whether we want it or not. No matter how proactive you are, unexpected things might happen without you knowing it so learn to turn these unexpected things into an opportunity to grow. It is crucial for you as individual to be flexible enough to change in order to keep up in this competitive world. But how do you adapt and adjust yourself to changes?

People are susceptible to unforeseen changes. These changes might cause fear and it is natural. Instinctively, our body’s fight or flight response maybe triggered due to adrenaline rush which naturally occur because of our survival instinct. This oftentimes can be overwhelming and taking control of the situation might be a challenge. But once you have been successful handling the situation, it can provide you with a good avenue for success.

To handle these inevitable changes effectively, the key is to simply change our attitude and the way we perceived life. Changes should be seen as opportunity to achieve goals rather than as hindrance in achieving success.

Step 3: Boost Your Productivity

Scrambling with paper works, preparing for the next big presentation and doing the same boring routine every day could affect one’s productivity. According to NAPO or National Association of Professional Organizers, a total of 4.3 hours per week is wasted in paper document management.

Disorder and chaos can become our habit and without us knowing it, it has already affected our productivity. Have you ever experienced a situation when you think you have done so many things and yet at the end of the day, you realized you have never finished anything? That’s a perfect example of being unproductive. And for sure, you don’t want this to be part of your habit, right?

Boosting productivity is not as complicated it may seem. According to this post, you can boost your productivity by simply knowing your priorities, time management, active lifestyle and learning how to handle stress.

Productivity is essential to achieve the best in life. It can keep us motivated, focused and encourage creative thinking which we can make use of perform our task very well.

Step 4: Stay Level-Headed

When people are faced with failures, it is natural to get disappointed and frustrated but that does not mean that you have to let failure control your life. To be level-headed means you will not let yourself be torn down by failures that easily. In every situation, it is understandable to feel some emotions but never let this emotions rule you and your judgment. To be level-headed is simply to be a logical-thinker.

However, learning to develop this kind to thinking is not as easy as it can be defined. Logical thinking is a mental strength in which you will be able to think fairly and justifiably amid the emotional situations you are confronted with.

In life you either win or lose so do not put too much fuss whenever you lose in some situations. Definitely, there is more to life that you can try and someday you are going to win. In every situation you encounter, be impeccable, do not make assumptions and most especially learn to accept constructive criticism open-mindedly and do not take it personally.

Conclusion

Regardless of who you are and what you do, achieving excellence can make you a better person. Striving for excellence does not necessarily mean pushing yourself too much and striving for perfection. To be the best… to excel or stand out from the rest, you have to simply use your abilities, skills and talents in the best way you can.