Self-Esteem For Dummies
Book image
Explore Book Buy On Amazon
Excellence is performing at your highest level. Whether it’s raising your self-esteem, doing well at your job, having satisfying relationships, or improving your physical body, engaging in excellence means you carefully think through your goal and make logical plans, you take the time to do your best, and you work hard at achieving what you desire.

Pursuing excellence begins with a decision you make, an ideal you envision. Once that vision is in place, you do whatever is necessary to make it a reality. Following are 10 different strategies to use that will help you attain excellence in your life.

Take pleasure in what brings you satisfaction

Imagine reaching your full potential by becoming your best self. Imagine being happy and living the life of your dreams, growing and achieving in all aspects of your life.

You have the power to succeed in creating a life that works for you and to set and reach goals to improve your life. There are two types of people: those who succeed because they do the things that help them realize their highest potential, and those who are disappointed because they neglect to do what is required for success. And when you succeed, you have more power to do even more.

Striving for self-improvement and the desire to continue to grow and develop are often natural for people with healthy self-esteem.

Commit to doing what is required to excel

After you make a plan to reach your goal, your commitment to do everything that’s required to reach it is essential. This commitment involves having a high level of dedication and self-discipline.

Being committed is persevering through all the ups and downs that happen, persisting in the face of any obstacles that appear before you, and continuously striving to do your best.

Use your knowledge of yourself and your goal

Personal excellence requires that you evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. Your strengths are those things that are easy for you to do and what you do best. They are your natural talents and skills. You may not even notice them because they’re so instinctive to you. Your strengths may or may not be what you like to do. They can be, but that’s not always the case.

Just as important as identifying your personal strengths is recognizing your personal weaknesses. Realize that everybody has weaknesses. No one is perfect; it’s normal. Weaknesses are qualities that create negative situations in your life.

Have enthusiastic feelings that lead to creativity

In order to achieve excellence, you need to have a keen interest in accomplishing what you desire. Without these deep feelings of enthusiasm, you won’t have much motivation and you’ll stop partway through without completing what you started. Your enthusiasm about your goal engenders creativity, and this creativity then generates even more enthusiasm. As you inspire yourself and others to take the steps that are needed to reach your goals, your passion increases even more.

Life is all about growing and improving yourself. When you do this every day, getting better and better, you build intensity to develop your skills and talents in whatever you’re focused on.

Maintain an upbeat attitude about yourself and your goal

To attain excellence now, remind yourself of past triumphs. Congratulate yourself on what you’ve accomplished and the good you’ve already done.

Fill your mind with positive thoughts. Read inspirational books, listen to beautiful music, and talk with people who help uplift you and make you feel good about yourself and what you’re achieving.

Remind yourself that any important goal takes a lot of work and that most things are possible if you try hard enough.

Stay focused on what you want

Maintaining a constructive focus on your goal keeps you applying your efforts in a positive direction. If you get frustrated because your goal isn’t turning out as you first imagined, don’t let yourself fall into the trap of being a victim.

Think about exactly what has gone wrong and gain from it. Reflect on what you did well as well as how you can improve in the future. Concentrate on working on those particular points. Consider different options to overcome these obstacles and choose one or more that make the most sense.

Be willing to share your feelings with others

Everyone experiences obstacles reaching goals, and these setbacks can lead to annoyance and frustration. Keeping these emotions inside can lead to stress and damage your physical well-being. Pent-up emotions can cause tension in your neck, back, shoulders, and jaw. They can also produce long-term problems like frequent headaches, high blood pressure, and stomach ulcers.

Sharing your feelings can go a long way in relieving your stress and aggravation. You’ll be able to release negative energies within you so you feel better, and you’ll be more capable of identifying how to improve the situation and the problems you’re faced with. If you’re communicating with a person who caused the emotions, the two of you will be able to discuss how to deal most positively with your relationship.

Accept people for who they are and look for the good in them

Although it’s important to speak up when your feelings have been hurt or you see a problem, it’s also essential to respect others. In order to live a life of excellence with more happiness, it’s better to accept people for who they are rather than try to change them. This includes people who are involved with you in meeting your goals.

The first step is to stop seeing the world in black and white, with you always being in the right and others as being in the wrong. It’s important to understand someone else's point of view.

Everyone has had various life experiences that form who they are. Everyone’s experiences have been different from yours, and those differences are what make us all unique.

The second step is to turn the situation around. Ask yourself how you would feel if someone were judging you and refusing to accept your point of view.

Have flexibility and balance in your life

Don’t be a slave to your goal and feel that you have to accomplish it a certain way. Flexibility is having the willingness to adapt and try something different if something isn’t working as you thought it would. Be very aware of your environment and the people in it. If things aren’t going as you originally planned, make changes until you find what works.

Along with flexibility, it’s vital to have balance in your life to allow time for the other important people and activities in your life. Although you may need to devote extra time to your project, it’s best not to totally immerse yourself in one area of your life to the exclusion of all others.

Stick with your goal until it’s completed

To truly reach excellence, it’s crucial to persist with any project until it’s completed. Giving up halfway through will diminish your self-esteem quickly.

If you’re unsure which direction to go, spell out exactly what steps need to be taken to finish your goal and brainstorm all the possibilities you can think of to move you through these steps.

If you lose your motivation before the project is finished, make yourself accountable to another person. Take the steps you’ve created and write down what is required. Tell the other person exactly what you’re to perform and the date and time by which you should complete it. Be open to being responsible to this person for accounting for each step you are to take.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book authors:

S. Renee Smith is a renowned self-esteem and branding expert, speaker, author, and resource to the media. Her expertise in personal and professional development and ability to inspire others to make positive, permanent changes has made her a sought-after consultant and speaker to Fortune 500 corporations, universities, government and nonprofit agencies, and churches. Vivian Harte has taught assertiveness skills online to over 10,000 students worldwide. She has 14 years of experience teaching in the classroom at Pima Community College and the University of Phoenix. She also hosted her own radio and television shows for many years in Colorado Springs, Minneapolis, and Tucson.

This article can be found in the category: