How to become “The Best Version of Yourself?”

How close are you to manifesting your potential?
Your true self?
Living the best movie of your life?
Becoming who you are meant to become? — What does it mean to become your best self?

How do you even know who your best self is — let alone how you can become that person? Don’t worry about all that. Instead, think about becoming your best self as a process of getting rid of things that are in the way. Obstacles in the Way of Your Best Self Becoming who you really are should never feel forced or awkward. Instead, it will feel completely natural in every way. You’ll feel at home in your own skin. You’ll no longer feel that you’re an imposter who’s trying to fake it till you make it.

The first step toward your best self is understanding the things that are keeping you from discovering who you truly have the potential to be. Let’s look at a few of them now.

1. Other People’s Opinions: Everyone has opinions about the way that things should be, and that’s okay. But you should never feel that your life and your choices are at the mercy of other people’s opinions. As you’re reading this, you can probably think of at least a few people who have an opinion about who you should be or what you should do with your life. Sometimes these opinions are negative, and sometimes they are positive. But one thing is certain: These opinions have nothing to do with who you really are. They simply represent people who are realizing their own perception of you. At times, these opinions can be positive. But if they aren’t a genuine representation of who you honestly believe that you are, they can be a hindrance toward you becoming your best self. Imitation has never caused anyone to become great. Even if you’re imitating someone you admire and respect, you’re never going to be as good at being someone else as you can possibly be at being yourself. You’re not responsible for becoming anybody but the person you want to be, and that’s a decision only you can make. You’re also not responsible for other people’s opinions or perceptions of you, whether those opinions and perceptions are good or bad. The only thing you’re responsible for is being true to yourself and who you know yourself to be. No matter who you become, for better or worse, somebody somewhere is always going to have a negative opinion about it. That’s not your problem; it’s their problem, and it’s their responsibility . . . so leave it at that!

2. Your Weaknesses and Doubts: Everyone has things about themselves that give them doubts about what they can achieve, just as they have traits and talents that they are confident about. The person you become in life is dependent upon whether or not you focus on your strengths or your weaknesses. Of course, it’s important that you examine the areas of your character that you need to change in order to get what you want. But it’s better to focus on a specific plan of action for correcting the weakness than to focus on the weakness itself. Think of it like this: If you’re constantly focusing on masking your weaknesses and insecurities or feeling ashamed, it’s as if you’re placing a magnifying glass over them. As this happens, they become the predominating thoughts in your mind until they begin to affect your self-image and your beliefs. Those beliefs affect your actions, and those actions create your results and lifestyle. Sound familiar.

In case you’re wondering whether or not other people recognize this, they do. In fact, it’s probably more obvious than you think it is. That’s the bad news. The good news is that your strengths are the same way. If you’re constantly focusing on developing the strong points of your character, it’s as if you’re placing a magnifying glass over all the good stuff. As this happens, what you’re doing right becomes the dominating thoughts in your mind, and they begin to form your positive self-image and beliefs. These beliefs begin to influence your actions, and those actions reinforce your beliefs and create your lifestyle and your identity.

3. Your Current Results: As you’re considering the fact that your thoughts create your beliefs and your self-image, that your beliefs influence your actions, and that your actions form your lifestyle and identity, it might be easy to feel bad about yourself if you’re not happy with your current results. But it’s important to remember that the current circumstances of your life are a representation of who you were, not who you are. If you begin today to focus on becoming a different person, you can be certain that your current results will change, but first, you have to let go of the idea that those results represent who you are. In fact, it’s important that you never allow the exterior circumstances of your life to define your identity. If you do, your self-image and confidence will vacillate just as the circumstances of your life do. Better to develop a rock-solid self-image based on a standard that you and you alone determine. This will help you to endure any difficulty in your life and keep your actions consistent with your true values instead of allowing them to be influenced by circumstances.

Steps to Discover Your Best Self Now that you know what’s standing in your way, let’s look at a few things you can begin to do today in order to become your best self tomorrow.

1. Decide What You Really Want — Make a list of what you really want in your financial life, your health, your relationships, and your career. Don’t stop for a second to think about how you are going to achieve these things; that’s not the purpose of this exercise. You’re going to build self-understanding based on what YOU really want out of life. As you do this, you’ll discover that your deepest desires are the most accurate representation of what’s in your heart. The better you understand your dreams, the better you’re going to get to know your best self. As you do this, it’s important, to be honest. Don’t worry about what other people might think — again, that’s not your problem. Don’t worry if others believe that your dreams are stupid, unrealistic, selfish, or immoral. Remember that their opinions only represent the experiences and perceptions of who you “should” be or how you “should” live. These people are not responsible for living your life or making the most of the talents that you have. You’re the only one who’s responsible for becoming your best self and pursuing your dreams. No one else is ever going to do that for you, and it’s unfair to expect them to. In addition, don’t allow your weaknesses or insecurities to get in the way of deciding what you want, and don’t allow your current circumstances to influence you. You’ll only end up with more of what you have right now.
2. Decide What You’re Going to Give in Return — You’re never going to get something for nothing. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something. As you’re determining what you want in your financial life, your health, your relationships, and your career, it’s important that you decide what you’re going to offer in return for your ideal lifestyle. If your dreams are big in any of these areas, your commitment to taking action must be equally big. If not, you’ll end up falling short of your goal, or you’ll reach it only to find that you can’t keep it for long. For example, if you decide that there is a certain type of person you’d like to attract into your life, ask yourself what kind of a person you’ll need to become in order to attract them and build a meaningful relationship. If you want to have a certain amount of financial security and a steady position in your dream career, you must first determine what you’re willing to sacrifice in order to get what you want. Do you need to dedicate a lot of time to education right now, or will you have to put in several years of work to build your own business? And finally, if you want to be thin and in good health, determine what you’re willing to give in return for your ideal body. Every year millions of desperate people spend billions of dollars on weight-loss pills and fad diets only to find that they’ve wasted their time, money and hope on these quick-fix solutions. That’s because they weren’t willing to put in the effort to change their long-term eating habits or the time to develop a better body. Similar mistakes are made in the way that people pursue their ideal career, their ideal relationship, and the acquiring of financial security. The sooner you accept that there is no shortcut to good health, financial security, great relationships, and a good career, the faster you’ll be able to get to work on a practical plan of action for achieving them.
3. Write a Plan of Action — This step is very simple, but most people never bother with it because they think that it’s enough to know what they want. It’s not. Sit down and write out a specific plan of action as to how you’re going to make the changes you need in order to get what you want. As a part of your overall plan, including the thought exercises from the previous chapter. This will help you to become the person you need to become in order to get what you want. Most importantly, write your plan down. Your plans are going to change as you begin to put them to work. You’re going to need to measure what’s working and what’s not working and correct course. The only way to do this is to keep a written record of your plan so that you can go back to it and revise it.
4. Take Action — There’s no such thing as tomorrow when it comes to getting what you want. You have to take action, and the only good time that you can take action is right now. You can think about tomorrow and dream about tomorrow, but that’s all that you can ever do with the future. The same is true with the past. If you’ve gotten into the habit of putting things off until later, you’ve allowed yourself to neglect one immutable law of success: Nothing happens without action, and action can only happen right now. If you have a habit of indecision or procrastination, just remind yourself of this truth every time the temptation comes to put things off. There is no later. There is only now, anything short of real action, and you qualify as a dreamer.