For a while I’ve been thinking about how to improve my skills and rapidly improve. Thinking how to reach another level faster. I started thinking about the time that I was performing at my highest levels. It is silly now that I think about it, I thought it was all because of my hard work and desire for success.
A little background to why I would come to such a conclusion, as a extreme introvert I spend 95% of time by myself focusing and working to achieve the level of performance that I desire. Anyone that bothers me during this time will be in for some feistiness, I tend to lose any control of my emotional responses because I’m so focused all I could think about is working. A little warning, do not bother me when I’m focused on getting a project done. I even came up with a technique called the hoodie and headphones move; when I know I have to be around other people. I’m sure I was the not the first to employ this and will not be the last. Anybody that disturbs during this mode will face the wrath of an angry cat. SO back to my point this whole time I thought FOCUS was the only superpower that will transform anyone into the best version of themselves. It is important part of the equation that fuels your work ethic!
BUT!!! and here’s the but you will limited by the maximum standards that you are holding yourself too.
The Standards you Hold
The standards you hold will lead you keep growing until you hit the limit of your standards. Obviously right? Well not so obvious because I’ve realized that a lot of these standards are based on what and who you allow to influence you.
People that do not know that they could be better do not become better. I stagnated before I started surrounding myself with people that stated that I could be doing better, in either form of books or real people.
History is potent supply of what humans are capable of, think of learning about John D. Rockefeller or Sam Walton. Think of learning about Elon Musk in more recent times, or even think about learning about Marcus Aurelius or Leonardo Da Vinici in more ancient times. IF you think about the lives of these people, how could you not think that maybe “I COULD BECOME MORE MYSELF”
Learning about these people made me think of how I could push my limits on a daily basis to become more. By knowing that there is more and then using your ability to focus on things that expand you, you will keep growing.
The Company You Keep
It is also vital that you keep people around you that also want to make themselves the greatest they could ever be. If you surround yourself with people that do not want you to become more, you will be limited by there standards, when you say that maybe I could do better and then they say maybe that’s good enough you will most definitely say sure if my friend thinks it’s great then it’s great. It will be easy for critical people to say well it’s your fault for not pushing yourself, but the truth is COMMUNITY is one of the most influential parts of who you actually become.
Building Your Community
Even if you are an introvert like me you have to be extremely careful of the people and the sources of content that you have in your life, this is the secret that is in plain sight that people don’t seem to grasp. Why is Start up culture such a fish bowl of innovation? It is because it tries to get the people that want to push the limits of society together and get them to work on great things. It allow people to feed off the energy off each other an become even more.
My experience leading my product build that resulted in stretching my own limits makes me realize the importance and truth of choosing the right people. See the people that have the characteristics that you want or think will complement yourself and build cool stuff with them. Put yourself into places that will allow you meet such people. This maybe more of a reminder to myself, to get my ass out there and meet people that will help us all become more. Even if I work mostly by myself when I’m actually doing work, even I see the importance of having people that make your life a little more competitive and push you to another level.
Since then I have learned how to influence other people in a group of hard workers to guide them in direct that will create the most results. I will talk more about that in another post.
This article is part of my goal to write everyday for an hour and post it everyday. It may not be edited to my standards but the goal is create value and get content out everyday.
