“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Wise words from Oscar Wilde, who seems to know that the secret of success in the workplace is to play to your own unique strengths. Operating at our best ignites healthy emotions like enthusiasm, inspiration, excitement, and drive which make us better problem solvers, creative confident thinkers, relationship builders and it increases our ability to perform under pressure. Daniel Goleman, in his book ‘Focus - the Hidden Driver of Excellence,’ makes the link between our positive emotions and enhanced brain function. People in this empowered state find new ways to craft and excel in their role, meet their daily home and work demands, and take on-going steps towards achieving overall well-being, career satisfaction, and the drive to be your Best Self.
Play to your strengths
Before you can build on your strengths, it is important to first identify them. This is not always easy to do, as our internal lens is well trained to see only our weaknesses. To dramatically improve your success, fulfilment, and productivity, it is vital to engage in work and skills you enjoy, get lost in, are excited by, and master quickly. These areas are known as your ‘sweet spot’; the more you leverage them, lean into them, and nurture them, the stronger they become. Seeking out feedback is another way you can learn to identify new opportunities to play to your strengths and be your Best Self.
Narrate your own story
According to Don Cable Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School ‘The Self is just a story that we tell ourselves about ourselves’. What story are you telling yourself about you? Bringing an awareness to your own inner narrative to ensure that it is helpful, compassionate, and positive enables us to rewrite our story around new goals and dreams. Think of the advice you would give to your own best friend and then apply it to your own career and life. Remember, ‘Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you are right’. Henry Ford
Look out for the learning opportunities
Openness to learning fuels growth and cultivates opportunities needed for us to evolve, adapt, and improve. When we are at our best, we seek out ways to explore, try new things, listen, and learn. We see things that we cannot see when we are at our worst because we look at the world in a different way. Ultimately, when we are at our best, we have a growth mindset and we are motivated to seek out the right role, job, or environment to enable success. In the words of Dalai Lama, ‘The goal is not to be better than the other man but to be better than our previous self’.
Grow your own future
Positive action today will put you on the right path towards tomorrow. Taking small, regular, and frequent moments to check-in with yourself to re-centre and ensure you are operating with the right mindset, will help you battle today’s on-going global pandemic stress and anxiety. Taking care of your well-being is one of the most important activities fuelling your ability to ignite your best self. You will restore your energy, so you can pursue the things that really matter. Once you begin to operate at the top of your game, you are better equipped to use your strengths to shape the direction you choose and bring your Best Self to everything you do.