Take Charge for Major Success
By Loving Yourself
by Dr. Yvonne Corppetts
What’s love got to do with being successful in life? Everything! It has to do with loving yourself. In order to have major success throughout your life you first need to be able to love yourself. I don’t mean in an egotistical, selfish manner where you think so highly of yourself that you negate other people.
Loving yourself means knowing who you are, your authentic self. It means understanding your likes and dislikes, what you are good at and not so good at. It means clarifying your values about what is important to you and expending energy as much as possible with people and in situations that you value.
According to a study in Psychology and Psychiatry (2011), “People’s views of the past had the greatest effect on life satisfaction.” When you can accept you despite your mistakes and the occasional potholes in life, you continue to move forward and strive for what you want in life and not live with regrets.
Feeling good about yourself while making improvements in your life, allows you to feel good about you as well as other people. Relationships are enhanced personally and professionally when you are able to value others because you value yourself. You are less likely to blame other people when things don’t quite go your way. You hold yourself accountable and responsible for your actions and what you want in your life.
E.E. Cummings said, “It takes courage to grow up and turn out to be who you really are” (p. 42). How do you go about loving yourself better? Get to know you! The following ideas may help improve how you see yourself and your outlook on life:
1. Know what you are good at and utilize those talents at work, home, church and in your community.
2. Attempt to improve or simply ask for help with the things you aren’t so good at. You don’t have to be a know-it-all or do-it-all.
3. Strive to be at your personal best (which does not mean being perfect).
4. See mistakes and problems in your life as opportunities to learn, not as failures.
5. Explore! You will be surprised at what you can learn and what you can do by having an open mind to experience new people, places, and things that this world has to offer.
6. Get Real! No one lives on this earth (no matter how smart, attractive or rich you think someone else is) without going over a pothole or two in life. Be grateful for what you have and what you can do. Concentrate on what you are in control of versus what you are not.
7. Take action! Be active! Socialize! Get involved!
References
San Francisco State University; Seeking happiness? Remember the good times, forget the regrets. (2011, May). Psychology & Psychiatry Journal, 218. Retrieved June 16, 2011, from Alumni – Proquest Psychology Journals. (Document ID: 23444900001).
Simmons, Russell (2007). Do you: 12 laws to access the power in you to achieve happiness and success. New York: Gotham Books.
