“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” George Bernard Shaw
John C. Maxwell, one of the well-known names in the field of personal development, is a successful figure in the United States on success, goals, and leadership. Did you know that this famous expert was a priest for 14 years? If he had continued to live as a priest, he would probably be known just by a few people in his district. We all have different roads in life. Our common point is that we all want to be successful in our lives, to build good relationships and to be happy after all. We are on our way to the point where we need to be at the end of our life. One of the most critical human features in life is that while a man accepts himself as who he is he should also have the courage to change when the time comes for change.
In his book “Your Road Map For Success”, one of the most successful books by John C. Maxwell, 25 suggestions were made for success. The first of these and in my opinion, the most important one is “Start From Yourself”.
The most important elements of success in life are the ability for change and development. In order to improve our lives and achieve better, we need to start the development from ourselves. It’s easy to say, but how can we do that? John C. Maxwell offers a roadmap for us with 4 items:
1-Know Your Value and Always Remember
Knowing our personal characteristics is extremely important for our life fiction. Recognizing our innate skills and the capabilities that we have gained later enables us to target correctly in life. We all face situations that force us from time to time. We may be humiliated in the community, we may be unemployed, may be deceived, may be defrauded, and many other bad things can happen to us.
What is important is to remember that we have not lost our own values whatever we have to face with. Starting from this point of view, it is necessary to stand up again and continue our struggle. When we know our features, what we can and cannot do, we have the ability to easily overcome difficult times.
2-Self Acceptance
It is important to accept our core values. You may be one of those who dream of being born rich. Or you can dream about being a 2.10 meters guy and you may want to be a basketball player. Or you may think that it would be better to have a more healthy physique, were more handsome or more beautiful. At this point, it is necessary to face the fact that life is unjust and accept the situation as it is. It is important to acknowledge that the capital that forms the cornerstones of our future is limited to the capabilities and features we have now. Whatever we’re planning for our future, we’re going to create it by what we have now.
3-Increase Your Value
With all the tools we have; intelligence level, physical appearance, memory level, foreign language predisposition, athletic skills, communication ability etc. the main goal is to increase our own value in the eyes of others, in the eyes of society. We should aim to reach a better version of ourselves by adding new competencies and improving our skills.
4-Believe in Yourself
The last thing we should do is to believe in ourselves in every situation. We have to believe in ourselves that we can always get support from this power. Life will not be easy, development will be a challenging way. In this way, our greatest strength will be our belief in ourselves.
Some practical suggestions that can be applied in your life;
– Frequently ask the question “How can I improve my value?”
– Make a list of development topics to help you create your more advanced version in the future
– Learn about the life experiences of people around you, the challenges they face, and the progress they have made
– Read the life stories of successful people; authors, politicians, inventors, scientists, who live in the same period or lived in the past. Take advantage of different perspectives.
Reference:
Maxwell, J. C., October 1st, 2006 by HarperCollins Leadership (first published 1997)