There’s only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self. – Aldous Huxley
How do you need to improve yourself before you can help improve the world or help improve the lives of others?
What does that mean?
The only thing you can be certain of your ability to change is yourself, or so the quote says. While we may have some influence with others, ultimately, they have the final say in what they chose to do. Similarly, we can build and make and do, but in the end, we have even less control over things.
The bigger the thing, the less control we truly have. We need to admit that we control very little. Even the Captains of Industry only make the big decisions. Those decisions have their impact, but there are lots of others making decisions all the way down the line. They just can’t be certain that their decision improved things.
There are just are just too many variables, too many people, too many opportunities for things to change. The more wonderful and complex it is, the less control you have, the less certainty you have that a change will be an improvement.
The more you can simplify, the more influence you have, the more certainty you can have that your decisions will bring improvements. In life, the simplest, the smallest thing over which you have any control is you. If you make a decision about you, you can have fairly high certainty it will be an improvement, provided that’s the design.
Why is self improvement important?
Quite simply, it’s the best bang for the buck. You can do all you want to try to improve others, but the effort may come to naught, if they chose to do something other than your suggested improvement. If you try to make improvements to the world around you, someone else might decide that things would be best improved by undoing your improvement. Again, a great deal of effort expended for naught. And that doesn’t include the random acts of weather and fate, which often screw things up as well.
On the other hand, only you can improve yourself. You can take advice of others, but you are still making the decision. Even then, you may find that things don’t turn out as well for you as the person who gave you the advice said that it would. Even when you do the research, there’s still a chance things won’t turn out well. But it is as certain as you are going to get in this world.
Where can I apply this in my life?
Everything that I have ever done to help improve any part of the world (and presumably, by extension, the universe) has begun with an improvement of myself. Think about that for a moment, and see if it isn’t also true for you as well.
Before I could donate cash to a worthy cause, to improve the lives of others in distant places, I first had to improve myself sufficiently to be able to earn the extra money, right?
Before I could donate blood, I had to improve myself. For me, it was a dreadful fear and dislike of needles. I was able to improve myself, and have given blood for over nearly 35 years.
Before I could patch a rusty hole in my old Buick, I first had to learn quite a few skills, improving myself quite a bit in the process. As I improved the car, my skills improved as well.
Before I could help Habitat for Humanity fix homes, I first had to improve my skills to the point where I was more likely to fix things than to damage things. I also had to constantly learn new skills to help with other parts of the project.
In each case, self improvement came before being able to improve anything else. What about yourself do you want to improve? What improvements do you want for your own sake, and what do you want to improve so you might be better able to improve the lives of others?
What are you going to have to do to cause those changes to occur in yourself? Who might be able to assist you, either as a mentor or an observer? Where might you find those who can help you improve? Classes, seminars, webinars, books, videos, or other forms of interaction all can help you improve yourself.
Select something you want to do, and figure out what the first few steps are, and who might be able to help you. Now make a phone call, send an e-mail, or some other way of reaching out to that person (or persons). Get started by taking the first step, and improve yourself a little with the committment to improving yourself even more.
From: Twitter, @DennyCoates
confirmed at : http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/aldoushuxl105699.html
Photo by -mrsraggle-
