Becoming our best selves at work and in our personal lives is something we all strive to achieve. Some days are easier than others, but ultimately it’s those individuals who persevere through the struggles who come out on top.
In Jill Donahue’s excellent summary of Harry Kraemer’s Becoming the Best, she outlines the four principles that will help you be your best: self-reflection, balance and perspective, self-confidence, and genuine humility.
Reading her summary got me thinking about some of the best “becoming your best” takeaways that I’ve come across in the books we’ve summarized here at Actionable. The common thread that seems to run though each is deliberate action, that you can have all the innate talent in the world, but you have to hone it through hard work. It’s always the person who is the first to arrive and leaves well after everyone, not necessarily the person who’s more talented than everyone else, who succeeds in the end. It’s about hard, backbreaking work. I always go back to the 10,000 hour rule that Malcolm Gladwell writes about in Outliers—the idea that it takes 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become truly great at something. As Gladwell writes, “practice isn’t something you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” I couldn’t agree more.
What’s your number one tip for becoming your best?
