Case scenario
Usman is a rather shy 27-year-old IT geek who works with a telecommunications giant, having graduated with a first class in Computer Science. However, he prefers his own solitary company – working on a system, and struggles to give a presentation or participate in meetings. He is so painfully shy that everyone is aware and some mock him for it. He is also very uncomfortable with it and is often racked by anxiety ahead of the weekly team meetings. If only they will exempt him from the meetings and just allow him to send his report via e-mail. But his boss was not having any of that. “I will have to continue to endure the torture,” he concluded to himself.
Thompson on the other hand, is not as brilliant as Usman, and he always comes to Usman when he has technical difficulties. But he is a cheerful person and an excellent communicator. He skillfully deploys humour and simple but elegant language to explain complex IT concepts that were conceptualised by Usman. Thus, whenever they have a sales pitch to deliver for a potential client, Thompson always made the presentations – even though Usman frequently came up with the concepts and designs. Thompson acknowledges that he has to work harder on his IT skills and is understudying Usman and improving daily.
Commentary
Four characteristics define good mental health, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the very first characteristic is the “ability to fulfil one’s unique potential.” The others are: coping with the normal stress of daily living; working productively; and participating meaningfully in the community.
But how do we fulfill our unique potentials, when we are all different, as is evident from the case of Mr Usman and Mr Thompson above? From the get-go, their potentials (innate strengths) differ, but they all bring something to the table. And they have a smart boss who is deploying them according to their respective strengths for the benefit of the team.
However, the best outcome for Usman and Thompson is to identify their unique strong points and consolidate them; while resolving to work on their current weak points and transform them into areas of strength.
This realisation – that we are not static beings and that every single day we wake up and draw breath is a fresh opportunity to do better, and to strive continuously for self-improvement and self-actualisation – is the essence of today’s article.
Today’s title is a popular quote that captures this very essence. It is based on the factual premise that each and every one of us is unique and different from every other person that is alive now or ever lived in the past. This is evidenced by the fact that we all have unique fingerprints and DNA for instance. No two individuals, not even identical twins, will have the same fingerprints. Thus, YOU ARE UNIQUE and different from everyone else. We are all ORIGINALS.
Deriving from the above is the need to stay in your own lane and live your own life without unfair comparisons to others….because YOU ARE DIFFERENT. But while staying in your lane, it will be foolhardy for Usman and Thompson above to simply resign themselves to their respective areas of strengths while neglecting their glaring weaknesses. Imagine if they have a very big client and Thompson falls ill and Usman has to give the presentation. Or Usman is ill and Mr Thompson has to respond to rigorous interrogations on the underlying concepts and assumptions behind the presentation and he is clueless about it. The company may lose the big client.
Therefore, we should all strive for personal development and take every single day that we are blessed with as an opportunity to consolidate our strengths and overcome our weaknesses. This work in progress is a lifelong project – as the room for self-improvement is a room that can never be filled up while we remain alive.
The focus should be to ensure that today’s version of you is always head and shoulders better than how you were yesterday. And then, you should be planning to ensure that who you become tomorrow should be a better version and an improvement on your skills and competence today. This is the key to adding value, gaining emotional satisfaction and ultimately attaining self-actualisation.
Conclusion
Self-improvement is a task for each and every one of us and there are time-tested principles that can help us along this pathway to success. These include continuous learning and curiosity, self-awareness (honest introspection), discipline and self-control, hard work, humility, focus and perseverance, willingness to learn from others and patience. These principles, if imbibed, will help us amplify our potential and overcome our weaknesses – and we will be emotionally happier in our own skin.
and then