Being the best is something every individual dreams of at some point in their lives, whether it be best in a specific school subject, the best employee or simply the best version of themselves. Despite this ambition not everyone who sets such a goal is able to succeed in becoming the best and why exactly is that? Though it is easy to say that someone is simply better or that the goal of being the best is unrealistic, that is not always the case. Sometimes being the best seems unrealistic or unobtainable because we lack belief or confidence in our ability to do so.
It is always easier to succeed at something when one has the belief that they can do so because it psychologically prepares us for any setbacks and it creates a mind-set that the setbacks are temporary or that we are capable of finding a way past them. When one lacks self-belief, every failure is treated as a reinforcement of that self-doubt, but when they are confident it is simply a bump on the road to being the best. Once they have belief it becomes easier to stay motivated and this is something anyone who intends to be known as ‘the best’ must learn to do because motivation is another key to achieving this.
Motivation is what drives us toward our goals and when motivation dies down our work ethic follows suit. In order to ensure that one is able to stay motivated they need to have a source of motivation that they can turn to when things become too difficult on the road to being the best.
Motivation can come from simply thinking about the goal ahead or from one’s co-workers or family. As long as it pushes them to work towards the goal even in the presence of setbacks.
Setbacks are to be expected whenever one engages themselves in something challenging, especially something such as being the best. A misconception that exists is that to be the best one must be essentially flawless, however this is not true at all. There will always be setbacks, slipups, mistakes and failures but being the best means knowing how to deal with them when they come. After all, “If at first you don’t succeed try again”, but know why it failed and fix it because you cannot repeat the steps you took in your failure and expect a different outcome. A failed presentation does not mean the end for a career, it means there are improvements needed on the manner in which it was made.
A valuable piece of advice for dealing with setbacks is management, specifically managing expectations. A lot of individuals lose their motivation for a goal because they head in with unrealistic expectations for fast results or an easy journey to success hence when the setbacks begin rolling in, they are unprepared and are unable to deal with them appropriately. This in turn leads them to conclude that it is impossible and quit. When expectations are managed this is easily avoidable because the shell shock that comes from meeting obstacles is not as great as when unprepared.
Moreover, preparation is an overlooked factor in becoming the best, which can make or break the journey to the top. Adequate preparation is the key to success because it lays the foundation for the path to be ventured. Before making an important presentation to a group of executives one must come prepared with all the knowledge they need and an impeccable understanding of their slides. Should they face any technological setbacks, their preparation equips them with the tools to succeed in those difficult circumstances.
A final piece of advice is to learn from others. Nobody has all the answers and it would be foolish to believe so, thus pride must be left at the door if one desires to climb to the very top. Cooperating with others and making use of the knowledge and skills they bring to the table and learning some of it makes one more diverse and ensures that when new challenges arise those new skills can be of use, making them better. This is why continuous training is important. It prepares you for life ahead.
