How can I become the greatest version of myself?

How can I become the greatest version of myself? I have just watched this amazing TED talk by Peter Sage. In it he questions why we sabotage ourselves and procrastinate, and why most people never manage to achieve higher levels of success despite being highly motivated.

Peter feels it has nothing to do with lack of resources or opportunity. Our nervous system is hardwired for comfort, while our essence is hardwired for growth. Managing these two extremes is what is required to break out of mediocrity.

Humans differ from animals because of our neocortex, which uses alpha and beta brainwaves. It doesn’t start operating until around age seven. Younger children rely on delta and theta waves, and are very impressionable. They remember things that are said to them and may unconsciously self-sabotage in later life to justify negative things that happened to them in their younger life.

One of the most important things to realise about personal growth is that people will never rise above their own opinion of themselves. One of our greatest challenges is that this opinion tends to be formed in childhood before age seven. The perception of whether we did or didn’t get love from the people we most wanted it from is very important in the formation of this opinion. In a similar way, in relationships we don’t allow people to love us more than we love ourself.

We are also creatures of habit. We have shortcuts that allow us to pass some of the critical decision making to our midbrain to allow it to become unconscious behaviour. In fact, we tend to only use our conscious brain 5% of the time. If our unconscious mind is moving in the opposite direction, with all its limiting beliefs, then we will never get where our conscious mind wants to go.

In addition, our environment has a huge effect on our intention. We become programmed by our environment, including those people we choose to associate with. Peter calls it the law of conformity. To change this, he suggests three tips. Firstly, that we stop putting the wrong things in, meaning that our bodies will adapt to whatever circumstances we present it with. Two areas where we can directly influence this are with our choice of mainstream media and our peer group. We can choose what to focus on, and what to ignore because it is too negative.

His second tip is to put the right things in, meaning we can focus on things that inspire us, allowing us to choose the direction of our life. Finally, Peter suggests we take action to get the things out that shouldn’t be there. As an example, he talks about working with a coach or mentor to help us spot unconscious patterns of negative thinking that we can change. By choosing to use our conscious mind more often, we can start to achieve self-mastery. Mastering our sense of self allows us to walk into a situation that is descending into chaos, retain our centre, and handle the situation. It allows us to become the greatest versions of ourselves, which allows us to be an inspiration to others.

Project 365

I set up this website after deciding that I want to build a more creative life for myself, so I can give up my job and be in control of my own destiny.

I have set myself a goal of publishing an article on my website every day this year, to document my journey from employment to self-employment.

The name I chose was Project 365 because I see this as a year that I have dedicated to learning and self-development, as I countdown to freedom. It started on 1st January 2021, so I have 280 days to go!