Isn’t it funny how we start something thinking we should be proficient on day one? It takes years to raise a child, become successful in business, get a degree.
We’d all love to be smarter, richer, better looking, more successful, and happier. But we get what we earn.
So, how do we earn it?
Today, I read in a book by options day-trader Mike Bellafiore (called The Playbook) the words, “You can be better tomorrow than you are today,” hence the title of this article.
Building on Bellafiore’s ideas for improving in the stock options market, here are ideas that can help us improve ourselves daily:
Education makes us better. Learn a skill that improves on abilities. Even just learning something small today makes us better tomorrow. Or learn a new thought pattern that helps us not get attached to negative emotions. Or learn a new process for solving problems. Education is foundational for growth.
Not focusing on immediate results, but on the process, improves our long-term successes. Life is a continual process of growth that never ends. And often this growth stems from negative outcomes. But to not let negative outcomes defeat us, it’s essential to focus on the process. Sometimes process is just sticking to a routine—and building on what’s working while tossing what isn’t. For instance, stick to a routine of daily studies and perfect attendance, but also reflect on what needs improvements. Process matters more than immediate results.
Losing isn’t losing. It’s part of the education. Getting something wrong and later correcting it on the final exam is winning, not losing. Initial errors are all parts of learning. Simply adapt: go through the process of minimizing, or better yet, removing the error. There are no such things as losers; there are just opportunities for growth.
Allow for time. Time is the best healer. If things go terribly wrong, we might feel like all hope is lost. But even in the worst imaginable situations, we can rise above if we just stick to the process of making incremental gains. Time is our redeemer.
A daily system of review is essential to success. We benefit from journaling what we did during the day, reviewing our notes, writing up key learning points daily. For optimal growth, we could create a system, or process, for daily review. In other words, in the morning, we review x; in the afternoon, we review y; and in the evening, we review z.
Cooperation and synergy build a better tomorrow. Motivational speaker Napoleon Hill stresses how synergy with others lays the foundation for success. I believe he says, “Show me a successful person, and I’ll see a person who is helping others get what they want out of life.” Working in harmony with others, helping others get what they need, makes us better people.
The goal in life is to be happy. But to be happy, I heard that we must be happier each day than we were the day before. And this takes reflection, introspection. Did we feel a moment of anger? Did we blame or judge anyone? The opposite behaviors of feeling love and showing empathy help us feel happier. Simply flipping a negative can bring us joy.
Achieving skills and success isn’t as simple as ordering a Big Mac. We fare better if we adopt a mature attitude and strive for daily self-improvement. And no matter how much we’ve failed, no matter the size of our obstacles, we can always get better tomorrow than we are today.
