Harish Rao

Blog: Six values for life and workplace – Be a better me

‘We endeavour to grow as people in every aspect of life as we understand the importance personal growth has on ourselves and on the community around us.’

Personal growth or being the best version of yourself every single day must be our single-minded pursuit. Rather your only one; as the rest of our achievements would automatically follow it. The growth we achieve is not limited to our personal sphere alone. Personal growth can have a ripple effect across all the other facets of your life. There are innumerable things which we can do to ensure that growth. I pick here a few of them which I consciously practice

Practicing forgiveness – Forgiveness is not what you do for others, you forgive for yourself. You forgive so that you don’t carry the very heavy baggage along with you that consists of resentment, a feeling of being cheated or slighted. You unload the excess luggage and move ahead in life. Those are things you don’t need for your journey. Emptying yourself off these with forgiveness gives space in your heart for creativity and joy to bloom. 

This is a lot like the many pairs of clothes, you carry for a vacation thinking you would need them. You just carry them around and bring them back unused. You would have experienced a more relaxed and lighter travel without it all.

Living in gratitude – The worst of things that can happen to us can give you the best of lessons. Mind you, in a long human life, there are ample opportunities for a million trials by fire. But as they say, a grateful heart can never be unhappy. It would only say, ‘It could have been worse!’ Gratitude gives us a great mind frame to deal with life and its trials with a sense of curiosity and courage.

Kindness and empathy to others and oneself – Kindness is something that makes humans a superior animal. To be able to think from another person’s shoes and treat them with a certain gentleness is a becoming quality in a human. While quite a few of us manage to show that kindness to others, most of us fall short of that kindness when dealing with ourselves. We are very harsh and tough on ourselves and try to live up to very unrealistic standards

Taking care of our physical, emotional and spiritual health – Our health of all kinds is completely our responsibility. Eating right, moving every day, sleeping enough, drinking water, reducing screen time, spending time outdoors etc are a few necessary habits that keeps us mentally and physically healthy. Most of us are forthcoming in treating any physical ailments on time. The same keenness should extend to mental health as well. Seeking help is not a sign of weakness but of strength. Only the strongest can be comfortable exposing their vulnerabilities to the world with no fear of being judged but with an aim to be a better version of themselves; a version which is easier for the others around them to deal with too

Keen listening – Listen to understand and not listen to answer. When we listen with that attitude, we get to hear a lot of things that we may have missed when the motive is just answering.

Striving to be a better person than you were yesterday- Our only important strife should be to be a better person than we were yesterday. The targets need not be external or something in competition with others. To be someone else or to aim to do what someone else did is impractical and a worthless endeavour. To be able to do more, achieve more, be more and give more than you did earlier would be a loftier target to aspire for.

Keep giving yourself goals –The targets for yourself can be written down where you can see and read them every day. Making them quantifiable and definitive, breaking them into daily, weekly, yearly chunks and working on them methodically and consistently is the best way to achieve them.

Giving back to the community and sharing success – Hoarding makes us weak. Whatever we achieve is through the efforts of others as well. The tangible and intangible contributions of many people go into our success. So, the fruits of our success also cannot be held back from the community you live in and whose resources you use

Being fearless and exploring outside your comfort zone – There is really nothing or no one to fear in our lives. We should not allow anyone to have such power over ourselves. When we consider ourselves to be self-sufficient, complete individuals who have the right for as many resources around us as the next person, then you become fearless. Resources here does not mean just money; it is the wealth of joy and abundance that the world has to give. All of us have equal rights to it. When we realize that then we find it easier to explore outside of our staid practices and learn new things and new ways to live

Trying not to be someone you are not – Accepting our shortcomings and working on improving is true growth focus. We don’t have to pretend to know or live a life of lie. Enriching ourselves with knowledge and power is in our hands. You just need to take charge of the reins and present yourself authentically everywhere.

Accepting anger, but controlling its power and display – While there are many debilitating qualities we could have, anger ranks the highest in the potential damage it can bring to our growth. While it is human to get angry and sometimes even necessary at the injustices around you, it is how one deals with it that makes the difference. We need to accept that it exists and choose consciously what we would like to do with it. Planned responses to anger and its stimulants gives you control over your anger and brings creative solutions forward.Impulsive reactions that can be very damaging in the long run.

Soft skills are important for you in both personal and professional life. They are an important component in your success and how far you would go in life. This is equally applicable for your team of employees as well. If you are looking for any soft skill coaching or mentoring for your team or for yourself do write to us at harish@harishrao.world to know how we can help you with it. We understand the difference the right mentoring and training can make to a person’s productivity. We would love to work with you on this or any other business coaching needs you may have!