Taking Control of Improvement

The process for improvement can feel like climbing a cliff face with no harness, which is almost impossible. That’s because most people start at the end when it comes to improvement rather than mapping out a course. To stay with the cliff face analogy: with the right map, many cliffs can be climbed without a harness, but not without a plan. Making a plan that is incremental with signs posts along the way that let you know you are moving in the right direction is hard if you are trying to start at the end. Consider creating a map that gets from where you are to where you want to be.  If you goal is to the best, there are specific skills that you will need to acquire and develop to reach that goal. You will also need to assess if your natural talents and skills fit with your goal or if you are starting from a deficit.

If your goal is outside of your natural talent, the perfect practice regimen may not be enough. It may be as difficult as becoming ambidextrous. Using our non-dominant hand is the level of disadvantage we are at when trying to achieve something that is outside of our natural gifts. All of us have things we are naturally good at, and within that set, improvement comes quickly. When we try to improve skills that are not in our naturally gifted skill set, improvement is much harder to achieve and requires a really detailed road map to keep us positive and on track.

We need to be prepared for the discomfort we are about to feel. It is the discomfort of pushing our boundaries and changing how we think. To achieve improvement, we must push through our current limits to keep growing. Understanding that learning and growth is a painful processes that will result in a fully develop self will allow us to remember why we are doing this. Going into the process knowing we need to start by gaining the full picture of our skills will help you be in control of how far and how hard you push yourself. Often, the skills we’ve learned up to our current level aren’t being utilizing to their fullest. Once we assess, we can plan and be in control of our path to improvement.