Improve on your best

 

Get into the habit of pushing the boundaries of what you can handle. Everything around us evolves constantly. What was great yesterday is considered trash today. The people who will remain relevant must change with the changing times and circumstances. While you rest easy enjoying your success, your problems are evolving. Improvement is required just to maintain your position before you even think of taking steps forward.

If you are in business, you will realize that your competitors are working very hard to close the gap between you and them. If you don’t work on getting better at what you are doing you will soon find yourself as a success story of the past. I constantly refer to smartphone manufacturers as the greatest example of improving on your best. For the better part of the decade 2001-2010, Nokia was the king when it came to manufacturing cutting edge phones that always surprised us with what they were capable of doing. At some point it looked as though they had a new phone out every week. Word has it that they had the technology to produce the first smartphones but they slept on it concluding for some reason that the world was not ready for this kind of technology. Since that time, it has never been the same for them again. The moment they missed the bus, they started going downhill. Several attempts later and they still can’t boast of any significant market share in the smartphone business despite having some great options along the way. Contrast that with what has happened at Apple and Samsung. People are so invested in what these two companies produce, that they line up well in advance to get their hands on the latest iteration of their flagship devices. They are sure to sell millions of devices across the globe every year. The thing that keeps them at the top of people’s minds is the fact that they come with the latest technology available. Their R and D teams have little time to celebrate the success of what came out last year. They almost immediately go back to asking themselves: what can we offer the market next year to beat what they currently have in their hands? In short they are keen on improving on their best.

In his acceptance speech for an Academy Award, Actor Matthew McConaughey made an outstanding statement that reflects what it means to improve on your best. He said that his hero is always 10 years ahead of him. In essence his hero is who he is going to be ten years from now. That means he is always chasing a better version of himself. The way he sees himself now as great as it is, he knows that his future self, is bound to be better than his present self and that is why he keeps chasing his hero. Another example from the incredible Dr. Benjamin Hardy is from onetime Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Her mantra is that she never refers to herself as the ‘Former’ anything. She focuses much more on what the future has in store for her that she has no time to get lost in thinking of who she was in a former role. That right there is the thinking of someone who is given to doing better and focusing on the improvement they can still reach rather than any greatness in their past.

However well you are doing at the present moment, it is important to realize that you are still a work in progress. You must constantly keep your eyes open to see the opportunities accorded you for improvement and to do better. That is the basis for living a great life. I am a strong proponent of living optimally and constant improvement can never be separated from the pursuit of an optimal life. The fact that you are excelling today should keep you on your toes. At some point, you are no longer in the zone of competing with others. Your competition becomes the pursuit of beating who you were yesterday. Grant Cardone in his masterpiece The 10X Rule has a chapter on Competition where he says that your goal needs to be domination rather than competition. He says that while others are pursuing best practices, you need to be in a place where you are pursuing ‘only practices.’ By the time you reach here, you are not only improving constantly on your best self but playing in a one man league where you are constantly assured you will win.

Would you do with someone to hold your hand in the pursuit of improving on your best? If your answer is in the affirmative, then talk to me on +254725832477/ samuelmwinamoa@gmail.com