5 Things To Practice When Becoming Your Better Self
A huge part of why Roma Black exists in the first place is because our wonderful Director, Lauren, started with – and still has – a vision to change the way recruitment is not only done but perceived by the world. Integral to this is ensuring that we work closely with all of our clients and candidates, past, present, and future, to help them work to the best of their abilities and thrive as either a business or as a professional. We strive to share helpful knowledge and advice on a regular basis that will help people to achieve that.
One of the things that matter most to our company, and the individuals within, is self-development and making a conscious effort to progress. We are all advocates of becoming the best version of ourselves and we all deeply understand that the crux of this journey is usually synonymous with our career or the work that we set out to do during our lifetimes.
With this in mind, it cannot be understated that our work and lifelong careers directly and hugely impact our potential and therefore the highest version of us that we can get to. In this post, we explore what you can practice to make the best impact on your self-improvement journey.
5 things you can start practising today to get the most out of your work and the effect it has on your life
Mindfulness
Without going into too much depth, mindfulness is the practice of being both aware of your mind and your actions, and then acting accordingly and with intent. The word describes a person’s ability to stay present in the moment, whatever it is that they’re doing. An excellent way to practice mindfulness is to try to eliminate distractions as best you can and be present wherever you are and really feel what it is that you are doing. In essence, you are looking to take your mind out of autopilot as often as you can throughout the day and start to experience life for what it is.
This practice helps because it allows you to keep your head clear and although you are aware of thoughts and feelings, you are more focused on what you are doing.
How to practice mindfulness
Next time you are doing anything that you do daily as part of your routine, think about how much attention you actually pay to it and whether or not you are just doing it because you do it every day. For example, tonight when you go to eat your dinner or you’re commuting somewhere instead of watching Netflix at the same time, listening to music, or scrolling through TikTok; sit there and experience exactly what it is you’re doing. Look around you and take everything in. Just enjoy it. Think about the food you’re eating, how it tastes, looks, smells and so on. Bring yourself back to the present moment. Do this often enough and you will become skilled at mindfulness. Mastering the skill will truly allow you to engage with others as you should - without thinking about a thousand other things.
Kindness
Start intentionally showing kindness. Not just to others but to yourself. Don’t be nice, be kind. Being nice and being kind are too often confused. Kindness is about doing what’s right and being fair based on the situation and actually helping others and yourself with the long term in mind. Being nice is typically just an exercise used to flatter people or cater to their egos.
Why be kind?
Because you can be your own worst critic and succeed, but end up hating yourself because of the way you talk to yourself. Being kind to you helps you to understand that nobody is perfect – and that’s okay – because we don’t have to be.
Being kind to others will help you to build relationships and more importantly keep them. People respect and trust people that put others first and have their best intentions in mind.
How to practice being kind
Being kind to yourself is all about giving yourself standards and expectations but not destroying yourself if you don’t quite meet them. It’s about working as hard as you can and giving yourself a break when your best – on occasion – isn’t quite enough.
Being kind to others means being unselfish at times. It means suffering so they don’t have to. It means creating an environment that others can succeed and thrive in. Sometimes it means sacrificing and doing the hard jobs so other people don’t have to. The most important thing you have to remember when it comes to kindness is that it has to be genuine. With that in mind, here are a few things you can do to practice kindness.
Smile at people whenever you get the chance
Greet everybody
Treat the cleaner with the same respect that you treat the CEO with
Be thoughtful in the compliments you give - the more specific the better
Go out of your way to help others
Slowly Building The Right Habits
Microshifts create change, things don't happen overnight. A person can have an unbelievable transformation over the course of a year but you will never see immediate change. Imagine watching the grass outside grow or the leaves on the trees change through the seasons, you will never see a change by looking at the process for a fraction of time. Instead, if you look at the start of the year and then 6 months later, the grass will be much taller, and the leaves a different colour. Were things happening when you looked? Of course, you just couldn’t see it. This is how you must approach life - it is the small things you do every day that will change your life. Firstly, because they are easy to implement and habits take time to build. Secondly, it is much easier to stick to a small amount of something each day than to change your whole life.
How to adopt the habits in your life that will last
You write down what you want your life to look like and then which habits and traits you must adopt to get there. Then you work daily to do a small amount of those habits until they become second nature. Want to read a book a week? Read a page a day at first. Want to eat healthier? Eat one fruit a day. Want to drink more water? Drink half a glass a day. Eventually, these will replace the habits you have now and your life, over time, will be so different you won’t even remember how things were before.
Always giving your best, but remembering that your best changes from day to day
Try to give your best every day but remember that what your best is fluctuates as we are humans and not machines. Giving your all to something – be it work, relationships, the gym, or anything else – means leaving the session or day knowing that you had nothing left to give. The pride that you get from hard work is unmatched. Putting full effort into all that you do is essential for growth, progression, and character building.
Practice feeling like you had nothing left to give but actually monitoring it - you'll notice that this is not the same every day but you will still feel immense pride and satisfaction.
Making self-development a priority
Ensure that progression and development are at the forefront of all that you do. This can be in the form of climbing a corporate ladder, developing skills, becoming better at building relationships or anything that suits your goals. Establish where you want to be, then your goals, how to get there, and how to build your ideal life each and every day.