The power of self observation

“There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.” ― Nelson Mandela

What this quote means to me is that personal growth is key to living the most fantastic life and of sharing our unique gifts with the world to make it a better place.

Having a Why

For example, in one of my online businesses, where women’s clothing is retailed, even though one day there may be excellent sales, we continually look at feedback (both positive and negative) from customers to find ways to improve and then we implement them. This is based on the mission to “Make millions of women happier, more confident, and feeling positive emotions from the clothing, excellent client services, and entertainment from pics/vids/ads.”

Improving the How

In another business, a financial services company, every day, we ask the department leads to answer questions from the team or clients and continually improve the procedure manuals that all refer to to solve things. As such, while things are going well, we strive to make them even better.

Clear Results

What makes it easy to evaluate businesses is that the information is very clear: the sales numbers, returns, reviews, testimonials and complaints.

How Can We See Ourselves?

When it comes to making ourselves better, we need to be able to look at ourselves from outside ourselves in order to identify areas to make even better.

For example, I thought I was doing my kicks in martial arts very well; when I put my iphone on video and recorded I was able to see that there were areas of improvement to be made. In a private mixed martial arts class, I actually felt awkward doing the new moves I had just learned. Yet, when watching on video, I found I did them better than I thought.

This leads to the activity for today:

Seeing Yourself From the Outside
In one area of your life, record yourself. This is easiest to do for your health (e.g. doing an athletic activity) or interpersonal (interacting with, speaking, communicating with others). The recording can be done by propping up your phone facing you on record. You can even record your voice using a free recording app available on most phones.
Play it back with full appreciation of all.
You may notice as I did, body corrections to make to do the movement even better, a part of your body to focus even more on, or something else. When communicating interpersonally, there are a myriad of subtle signals (voice tone, inflection, eye contact, listening, pacing, energy communication, rapport and more) that make each communication even better.
Write down what things you identify you could make even better with a date that they will be accomplished by.
Write down how you will feel when you have accomplished these things.