How to be your best, more of the time

Jo Larbie, 11th June 2018

How much of your time would you say you’re functioning at your best when it comes to your personal life and professional performance?  If you calculated each as a percentage what would you say?

100%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40% 30%?

I’ve never met anyone who said 100%.  Anything we can do that helps us to raise this score also helps us to live more of our potential.  However, it’s one thing to wax lyrical about being the best that you can be, it’s quite another thing to know how to raise your game in a practical way.  Imagine what it would be like if you could help people to raise their game so that they could deliver more of what they are capable of.

The fact is that if you want to do this you have to start with yourself.   Why?  Because people need to see a change in behaviour to know what’s possible.

You are influencing other people

When you think about this in your professional life it’s very quickly apparent that how you are affects how other people will be around you.  This has nothing to do with your level of seniority or lack of it, and everything to do with how you influence other people for good or bad.  If you’ve ever been in a team that has changed over time, you’ll know what I mean because of the way that culture affects our behaviour.  If you’re in any leadership role, two important questions to ask are:

• What kind of values and purpose do you demonstrate in the way that you behave?
• How does that help or hinder you or others to maximise their potential?

What’s the pay-off?

Of course, it’s only worth raising your game if there is a worthwhile pay-off.  Pay-offs come in many forms.  Would you like to feel more engaged and satisfied?  I think this definitely counts as a pay-off – which, means it’s not just about salary and promotion.  So, is there sufficient pay-off for you to make it worth bothering to be what you could be?  If your answer is “Yes” and you want to enjoy more satisfaction and a greater sense of fulfilment, then it’s going to much easier if you know the how-to’s.

My satisfaction and fulfilment comes from being able to give people those how-to’s.  These are the tools which will enable you to create your own kind of life and to be the best that you can be.