How We See Ourselves

I believe most people are good. I also believe most people want to be successful. In business, we spend a great deal of time focused on how we can make other people do the things we need them to do instead of focusing on what keeps them from being their best.

As we evaluate ourselves in life, we have two primary aspects to our persona. We have the evaluated self and the aspirational self. The evaluated self is the overall measure of who we believe we are in this moment. It accounts for our abilities, our training, our resources, and our past experiences. When we think about who we have been, we find the internal explanation of who we believe we are right now.

The aspirational self represents the potential within us. We take the evaluation of self and compare it to where others of a similar background are. We attempt to see the best version of ourselves through our own concepts as well as our imagined view others have of us. We create vision boards, goal worksheets, dream journals, and a host of other aids to build our belief in this aspirational version of who we could be.

In dealing with these two primary components of who we are and who we desire to be, we have to address a couple of key points. First, if we cannot accept who we have been as a springboard for the potential that exists within us, we will stay stuck in the old version of our reality. Embrace the positive and negative lessons life has thrown at you. Ask yourself with every setback, ‘what is the lesson learned?’ When you learn a lesson and apply the lesson toward positive growth, you make the aspirational self believable. I have seen that people can and will change, sometimes overnight, when they simply believe they have a little more potential. What you believe about yourself is driving you forward or pulling you back.

Take a moment today and simply imagine your best self. Imagine how every struggle and every victory from your past was meant to prepare you to chase your greatness. Once you accept yourself in all your glory, imagine the best version of you that never stops moving forward will look like. Then ask yourself what that best version of you would do to keep life moving in the right direction. Once you have your answer, simply act in that direction.

We overcomplicate the idea of becoming a better version of ourselves. We spend far too much time thinking about why we can’t become better and far too little acting in the direction of better. Today, I would challenge you to imagine the great lessons you have learned to this point in your life, then imagine your best self, then take at least one action to move toward the realization of your best self.