There is a purpose in everything that comes our way. All happenings in our life are interlinked. We must learn to turn our cloud inside out to see the silver lining. We must learn to treat failures and embarrassments as stepping stones to success and self-improvement.
Patch Adams is one such great movie that drives home the point. If you remember, Hunter “patch” Adams meets failure at the board exams as a medical student which leads him through months of depression, melancholy and suicidal tendencies to such an extent that he voluntarily seeks psychiatric help by admitting himself in a ward of psychiatric patients. His stay there enables him to meet patients with a variety of mental ailments like mental retardation, schizophrenia, catatonic patients, etc. Trying to help them, Patch finds that his own ailments are treated and gets back on track. Finally one morning he wakes up to the realization that even after all the trauma he has undergone, his desire to become a doctor still burns strong. His positive attitude and efforts at self-improvement brought success not only for himself, but also to those around him and made a lot of difference to their quality of life. Yes, He went on to become the best doctor of his country.
So, success and self-improvement are two sides of the same coin. Friends, do make a start with towards both with these tips.
“Stop thinking yourself as failures. You are only human. Accept your failures and move on to make yourself acceptable to others.”
“When you see someone far superior to yourself, instead of indulging in self-pity, think of self-improvement. Think of acquiring inner beauty instead of only a good physique.”
“When you meet people feeling low and down, reach down to pull them up. Don’t slip down yourself in order to sympathize with them.”
“This whole world is a huge school where you learn from your mistakes and move on. A failure in a science quiz should never make you feel doomed and stupid. It’s not the end of the world. Always give scope for self-improvement.”
“Try improving yourself in things one thing by one. You can’t turn yourself into a perfect person at the crack of a whip. Give yourself time.”
“Self improvement leads to personality development, inner contentment, self-confidence and self-esteem. The natural outcome is Success.”
“Break your goals into small achievable and meaningful parts. Don’t expect dramatic results. Remember that each small achievement at self-improvement leads to a better YOU.”
“Little do we realize that our small appreciations or sincere greetings set up pleasant chain-reactions in other people’s lives that are so important to them. When we appreciate the beautiful people and things around us, we ourselves don a little of that beauty in others’ eyes.”
“When you feel the positive effects of self-improvement and change, you are eager for your friends to try self-improvement too. But remember never to force anyone to follow you. It takes all kinds to make the world and in all probability, your friends will resent it.”
Over-night success is just a myth. This life we go through is a big school. It is important to appreciate what we have. We all have our own lessons to learn. When we are ready to learn from life’s experiences and our interactions with the people around us, we are well on the way to self-improvement and success.
Posts Tagged ‘Success’
Learn About Success And Self-improvement – Two Sides Of The Same Coin
Friday, July 16th, 2010Your Physical Fitness Definition Will Determine Your Success
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010It always amazes me that FITNESS is a multi-billion dollar industry… Yet a solid, concise and universal definition of fitness is hard to nail down.
Just ask someone participating in a physical fitness program, or even someone in the fitness industry for that matter, to give you a clear definition of fitness.
You will most likely be met with the “deer caught in the headlights” stare accompanied by nonsensical stammering.
If you do get an answer, it will most likely be slanted toward the specific abilities of the person asked.
For example…
A marathon runner will define fitness in terms of muscular and cardiorespiratory endurance… A power-lifter will define fitness in terms of absolute strength… A bodybuilder will define fitness in terms of muscle size and definition… etc.
But the overwhelming majority of people participating in a physical fitness program are not professional athletes concerned with the improvement of only one physical ability.
Therefore, basing your definition of fitness on one specific physical skill does not lead to a universal definition of fitness.
The fact is, your physical fitness success will be determined by your definition of fitness… So take some time to make sure you have a clear fitness definition.
Once you see how much a clear definition of fitness can improve your physical training, you will wonder how you ever physically trained in the past without one.
So what would a universal definition of fitness be for someone who wanted to physically train to become a better, all-around human being?
I’m glad you asked… but let’s take it step by step.
Here is a GOOD Fitness Definition…
The degree of competence and skill to perform in ALL the physical abilities of cardiorespiratory endurance, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, accuracy and toughness.
I can already hear the criticism from the athletic crowd… You cannot “maximize” the performance of all the physical abilities in this fitness definition at the same time.
And they are absolutely right!
Fitness is not about the “maximization” of one particular physical skill at one particular point in time, but rather the “optimization” of all physical skills at any given time.
Fitness is a compromise of all the different physical skills that make up human activity.
Look at it this way…
Let’s say all of the physical skills were tested separately.
Some specialized athletes would score very high on some physical skills… and very low on others.
But a person that personified true, universal fitness would score well on all of the physical skills… without necessarily being the best at any one skill.
Here is an EXCELLENT Fitness Definition…
The acceptable and deliberate compromise of competence and ability to perform in ALL the areas of cardiorespiratory endurance, strength, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance, accuracy and toughness to produce optimum performance results under the greatest amount of circumstances.
Not only is universal fitness a compromise of all the physical abilities… but it is the over-all ability to integrate all of the physical abilities and flow from one ability to the next in a seamless fashion to successfully complete a task.
So, what would adopting this definition of fitness do for you?
Your physical fitness training program would be assessed according to how well it “optimized” all the physical skills and not just how well it “maximized” one particular skill at the expense of all others.
Basically, structuring your physical training to improve all the physical skills of this fitness definition would enable you to greatly improve over-all physical performance in a wider variety of activities.
Now isn’t that why most of us physically train?
Study this definition of fitness and use it to measure your current physical fitness training program.
How well does it measure up?
If your current workout program is lacking… it is definitely time for a change.
Your fitness success depends on it!
Self Improvement & Success
Monday, May 31st, 2010Everything that happens to us happens in purpose. And sometimes, one thing leads to another. Instead of locking yourself up in your cage of fears and crying over past heartaches, embarrassment and failures, treat them as your teachers and they will become your tools in both self improvement and success.
I remember watching Patch Adams – its my favorite movie, actually. Its one great film that will help you improve yourself. Hunter “patch” Adams is a medical student who failed to make it through the board exams. After months of suffering in melancholy, depression and suicidal attempts – he decided to seek for medical attention and voluntarily admitted himself in a psychiatric ward. His months of stay in the hospital led him to meeting different kinds of people. Sick people in that matter. He met a catatonic, a mentally retarded, a schizophrenic and so on. Patch found ways of treating his own ailment and finally realized he has to get back on track. He woke up one morning realizing that after all the failure and pains he has gone through, he still want to become the a doctor. He carries with himself a positive attitude that brought him self improvement and success. He didn’t only improved himself, but also the life of the people around him and the quality of life. Did he succeed? Needless to say, he became the best damn doctor his country has ever known.
So, when does self improvement become synonymous with success? Where do we start? Take these tips, friends…
*Stop thinking and feeling as if you’re a failure, because you’re not. How can others accept you if YOU can’t accept YOU?
*When you see hunks and models on TV, think more on self improvement, not self pitying. Self acceptance is not just about having nice slender legs, or great abs. Concentrate on inner beauty.
*When people feel so down and low about themselves, help them move up. Don’t go down with them. They’ll pull you down further and both of you will end up feeling inferior.
*The world is a large room for lessons, not mistakes. Don’t feel stupid and doomed forever just because you failed on a science quiz. There’s always a next time. Make rooms for self improvement.
*Take things one at a time. You don’t expect black sheep’s to be goody-two-shoes in just a snap of a finger. Self improvement is a one day at a time process.
*Self improvement results to inner stability, personality development and dig this …. SUCCESS. It comes from self confidence, self appreciation and self esteem.
* Set meaningful and achievable goals. Self improvement doesn’t turn you to be the exact replica of Cameron Diaz or Ralph Fiennes. It hopes and aims to result to an improved and better YOU.
*Little things mean BIG to other people. Sometimes, we don’t realize that the little things that we do like a pat on the back, saying “hi” or “hello”, greeting someone “good day” or telling Mr. Smith something like “hey, I love your tie!” are simple things that mean so much to other people. When we’re being appreciative about beautiful things around us and other people, we also become beautiful to them.
*When you’re willing to accept change and go through the process of self improvement, it doesn’t mean that everyone else is. The world is a place where people of different values and attitude hang out. Sometimes, even if you think you and your best friend always like to do the same thing together at the same time, she would most likely decline an invitation for self improvement.
We should always remember that there’s no such thing as ‘over night success’. Its always a wonderful feeling to hold on to the things that you already have now, realizing that those are just one of the things you once wished for. A very nice quote says that “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” We are all here to learn our lessons. Our parents, school teachers, friends, colleagues, officemates, neighbors… they are our teachers. When we open our doors for self improvement, we increase our chances to head to the road of success.