The process of improvement is a slow and arduous task, but if you are willing to persevere, you can accomplish nearly anything. The old cliche “Practice makes perfect” is only true if you know what you need to practice and you are patient enough to stick with something. Furthermore, daily small improvements will amount to huge results over time.
Consider these three questions:
What do you want to do better?
What’s stopping you?
What strategy will you use to make yourself better?
Back in the early stages of high school, I feared communication. It felt like everything I said was cliche, pointless, or useless. I was afraid to raise my hand in class and participate because I feared I would say something stupid and dumb. As time progressed, I became more comfortable with the idea of participating in class only because I was forced to. In most classes, participation accounted for a portion of my grade, so there was an extrinsic motivation to communicate.
When I came to college, the same fear manifested itself again. This time, I was intimidated by how much knowledge some of my professors held. I hesitated to strike up conversations with them because I feared I lacked the knowledge base to hold my own. My goal became clear--I wanted to acquire knowledge and understand more about various fields. Right now, I am still a far cry from being smart enough to teach a college class, but that isn’t the point. Personally, I have become a better communicator because I have acquired more knowledge and experience.
I know I am improving because I can now walk into a professor’s office and rattle off five or six questions about relevant material in a course. I only gained this confidence because I worked at it. So often, fear is what holds us back from expanding our minds and improving our lives. Psychologically, fear can be overwhelming. Fear can negatively affect all our decisions and take a negative hit on our self-esteem.
In whatever walk of life you come from, one universal truth is that everyone must go through a process of becoming. Becoming the best version of yourself does not happen overnight. Actually, improving at something takes time, discipline, dedication, and strategy. Here’s my four-step process that has helped me conquer my fear of speaking publicly.
1. Avoid the paralysis of analysis
If you want to accomplish something, you must act. If there is some area in which you want to improve, you must DO SOMETHING. When I first started writing essays in high school, they were absolutely terrible. I didn’t understand the concept of a thesis statement and I lacked the skills to write well. Simply through the process of trial and error, I have improved my writing skills. If you do nothing, it is foolish to expect improvement.
2. Do something every single day
After you set your goals, you must ACT frequently. After starting a new project, we are normally very excited, but when that initial excitement wears off, discipline must kick in. Every day, I communicate with people. I have chosen to increase the amount of communication I do every day, and as a result, I have improved.
3. Realize that what you think is your best effort is NOT your best
The mind has a way of shutting down before you can reach your full potential. If you want to improve at something, NEVER GIVE UP! If you want to go somewhere, realize that failure is not an option. Even if you think you gave it your all, you probably held back at least a little back. Find a way to maximize your potential.
4. Think and reflect
Action without thought is like eating without digesting. Even if you put forth a ton of effort into something, if you don’t ask yourself what you learned at the end of the day, you effectively put yourself back at square one. The idea here is to solidify what you learned and become able to apply it in other situations.
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar