SELF IMPROVEMENT MANTRA

SELF IMPROVEMENT MANTRA

NURTURE YOUR STRENGTHS and IGNORE YOUR WEAKNESSES

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Every individual has some positive points and some negative points. 

Yes, we all have some good qualities and some frailties.

We all possess some strengths and some weaknesses.

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

Most of us are excessively self-conscious about our weaknesses and we spend too much energy and resources in the process of trying to correct our imperfections.

We tend to take for granted our good qualities, our plus points and positive features, our skills and talents, our forte and strong points.

Hence we tend to neglect nurturing and building up our strengths. 

In our constant endeavor to overcome our weaknesses and correct our imperfections, we ignore working on our good points.

We do not spend enough effort in nurturing our strengths since most our our time and effort is spent on trying to remedy our so-called faults, frailties, imperfections and weaknesses 

This is because we keep thinking of our faults and weak points all the time.

Sometimes, we become so obsessed with mitigating our weaknesses and shortcomings that we devote so much of our time, efforts and resources in trying to remedy our imperfections and we do not have any time, energy or inclination for improving upon our natural talents and strong points. 

You also see that your parents, your teachers, your elders, your near and dear ones - all the time these well-meaning people tend to point out your shortcomings rather than appreciate your plus-points and everyone keeps giving you never-ending advise on how to overcome your weaknesses.

CONTRARIAN VIEW

Why not forget about our weaknesses, our imperfections, and focus all our efforts and resources on improving our strong points?

If you study the biographies of great persons you will realize that this has been their leitmotif.

Yes, these people became great because they focused on their one main strength and forgot about everything else. They devoted all their energies to nurturing their forte, their strongest point.

Great Achievers just ignore their frailties and concentrate all their efforts on enhancing and bettering their strong points, boosting their forte, and this is the secret of how they achieve great heights. 

They do not fritter away all their energies on trying to rectify their weaknesses - these energies they applly in improving their strengths to even higher levels.

So that’s the way to excellence:

nourish your strengths and ignore your weaknesses

It works - you can take my word for it.

Constantly worrying about your faults and weaknesses and expending your internal resources and focusing your entire effort trying to rectify your shortcomings will physically sap you, drain your emotional energy and demoralize you since you will never be able to achieve the desired results.

If you apply the same effort to improving your strengths the results will be much more encouraging and fruitful.

This is because working on improving your strengths and positive points will fill you with zest and enthusiasm since you will always enjoy working on something you are good at and doing something you like.

So even the results are sure to be encouraging and this will further raise your morale and fill you with cheer. 

One always enjoys doing what one is good at and the results will be excellent too. 

On the contrary you are likely to become fatigued and disheartened doing something you are not good at or doing something you do not like. 

Hence, in such cases the results will not be commensurate with the efforts you put in and resources you expend in doing these things which you are not good at doing and you do not like doing and which are not your true metier.

SELF IMPROVEMENT MANTRA 

First, introspect and identify your strengths and weaknesses. 

Then you must accept your weaknesses as they are and forget about them. 

Once you have forgotten about your faults, frailties, imperfections and weaknesses, just ignore them.

That is the key – you must accept your weaknesses as they are and forget about them. 

Do not waste your efforts, your resources and your energy on trying to overcome your shortcomings.

Now, concentrate all your efforts on reinforcing, enhancing and boosting your strengths. 

It is just not worth it to waste your energies and deplete your resources trying in vain to correct your your shortcomings. 

Instead, it would be much better to direct all your efforts and apply your resources on further enhancing and improving your plus-points.

As far as your so-called weaknesses and shortcomings are concerned, it is best to accept yourself as you are.

Keep thinking about your plus-points and do not waste your time thinking about your so-called flaws, blemishes and minus-points. 

Just forget about your weaknesses and get them out of your mind.

Thinking good thoughts about your plus-points and positive attributes will make you feel good and confident.

Then, just focus all your efforts on your improving your strengths and see yourself rise from strength to strength.

It works - you can take my word for it.  

Try this self improvement mantra and see the results for yourself.

And do comment and tell us your experience and let us know whether this self improvement mantra worked for you.

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2012

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. 

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

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About Vikram Karve

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer and blogger. Educated at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a large number of fiction short stories, creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional research papers in journals and edited in-house journals and magazines for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

Vikram Karve Academic and Creative Writing Journal: http://karvediat.blogspot.com
Professional Profile Vikram Karve: http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
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Email: vikramwamankarve@gmail.com

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.