We Can Be Better At Anything We Want, Seriously.

Am back from a weeks' hiatus and my apologies my blogfriends, did you miss me? I did missed you all! So what have I been doing? Well, pretty much a lot! Let me explain...

Since the start of new, actually a couple of months before the new year, I suddenly woke up one morning and decided, believed and accepted a challenge. A what? A challenge, yes, I told myself that I will be a better person this year than the last. Yeah, right.

Seriously, it all began when I started, for the nth time, photography. I realized to be able to take great shots will take not only time, energy and a lot of practice, but also I have to motivate, find inspiration, and drag myself out of bed early morning just to get that geat shot. Then uploading them either on Facebook or my Photoblog and wait for comments and critiques. I love getting them, be it good or bad, 'cause that's the only way I would find out if I am improving or not. And I try my best, at all times. Now I get more positive reviews than negative ones, that's already a huge accomplishment!

At the same time, I changed an attitude at work. I told myself, when at work, do the best. It does not matter if it did not pass anyone's standards, but as long as I believe I gave my all for the day, and you know what? I realized it is hard but doable and I did notice a change, for weeks, I got my focus and I try to accomplish as many task as I can and at the end of the day, I sleep knowing that I did well and what a sound sleep it is!

We can be better at anything we want, seriously. It is just a matter of attitude, looking at things and situations on a different perspective, just be positive and not let anything or anyone affect you regardless of any circumstance. I learn a lot about these things last year and I intend to remember the lessons everytime a situation becomes something familiar.

There are great things to be found in the realization that we can get better at anything we want.

Our lives consists of dreams, wants, desires, things we would like to do. We seek to be better friends, employees, artists, better speakers, a better person. We wish we were better at reading, writing, cleaning, organizing, leading, entertaining, or fixing things. There are numerous good things that we can add to our lives… and start a new life because of it.

How did I do it? It is not easy, for I struggle with each step, but am learning and the important thing is I try and stood by it. First, I made a conscious effort to decide to pursue a dream, a change, a new life. It involves moving an idea from the back of my mind to the front. It includes a thoughtful, decision-making process (i.e., Is this new skill worth the effort? Is this change beneficial? Will it improve my life?). It requires confidence, motivation, and intentionality. And it requires a breakthrough moment where I sat down and decide, “Yes, I’m finally going to do this!”

Next I slowly remove distractions. Now this is harder. Our lives are full. Learning a new skill should be fun, improving oneself should be easy,  but it will always require time. And the more I wish to improve (depends on the difficulty of the new skill and the degree of change I hope for myself), the more time and energy is going to be required. In the end, I must purposefully remove distractions that deviate me from my goals. I try to remove the correct distractions (television, mindless Internet browsing, bumming, staying up too late, sleeping in too long, etc.) and leave the important ones untouched in my life (work, my hobby, my family, friends, my group, etc.).

Lastly, I plan my next step and take it. If you are reading this blog post today, there are countless means available online in almost every imaginable field. If you are in a community, there are likely numerous educational opportunities available. If you have friends, they have countless hours of training/experience in some very desired skills. And the bookshop likely holds at least one book relevant to any skill you’d like to learn. There is almost no limit to the number of “next steps” available… we just need to select one. I did and I have books to read, softwares to learn, videos and a group to perfect my photography skills. I have a good supervisor at work who motivates me to be more responsible and be better. I have a spiritual friend/teacher/guide who never fails to impart words of wisdom and inspiration to keep me going, going, going and going. I take a step, one day at a time and for the first time, I feel I am moving and I know I am going somewhere.

So what new skill would you like to pursue? What change do you hope to happen in your life? And what is the next step you need to take to do it?

Let me encourage you today to take a step. ‘Cause you can get better at anything you want.

God did not plan our lives to be stagnant,

mediocre, boring or declining.
God planned our lives to be growing,

excelling, improving and thriving.

When someone ask you- "How are you?'

Is your reply, "As usual"? "Just the same?"

God did not plan your life to be as usual either.

As a child of God, you are what you declare.

Declare instead - "Just gettin' better."