If you stand still, you are going backwards.
This statement seems counter-intuitive on the surface of it, but in our ever-changing world you NEED to be continually evolving and improving. It doesn’t have to be transformational change, but ongoing marginal gains are very much a realistic expectation for self, and of self.
Your knowledge, your skill-set, your interactions, your attitude. The potential improvement list goes on…
Adopting a growth mindset is a ticket to success in tomorrow’s economy. Easily confused with being open/closed minded, or a positive/deficit mindset, growth (“fixed”- antonym) mindset goes beyond just believing you can learn anything by putting in the work/practice/effort to achieve it. Effort alone will not get it done. Strategy is equally important, because this provides the mechanisms to maximise your rate (and overall likelihood) of success. To overcome obstacles, you need a toolbox.
The obvious follow-up question: What tools do I need to get the outcomes I want?
Unfortunately, this is seldom a simple answer, especially for the individual. What works for me may be ineffectual, or even harmful for you. But some things do have broad spectrum efficacy:
Self-awareness is the first and most important aspect of this. Knowing how you function and where you have made progress previously, THEN, it’s about reverse engineering the learning process to leverage off these factors. Knowing your weaknesses, but utilizing your strengths to offset their impact is an extension of this.
From here, research is the key. Consider several different ways you can go about getting to your destination and pull from these the key aspects (and hacks) that could work for you, along with speaking to people around you who have reached this outcome about what worked for them.
Then, create your success cocktail, drink it down, see what happens, revise if needed, then go again, and again, and again. Rinse and repeat.
Had a win? Ticked that box? Use it as fuel/encouragement for the next thing on the improvement list, and so on…
This should be a continual, systematic, ingrained process. Self-improvement needs to be habitual, and by adopting this outlook and approach you WILL become more confident, capable, and even adaptable. These are essential attributes for a future WINNER.
It will take effort and commitment, but remember, there is no such thing as “Coasting to Greatness”.