"CHART your Journey" Blog Series || Chapter 3: The Power of "H"

Now that we already have our goals set, the SMART goals that we want to achieve, the next step to success is to further assess ourselves and invest in ourselves.

This leads us to our second topic on the "CHART your journey" series. What do you think the letter "H" stands for?

Yes, you're right. "H" is for "Hone".

Wikipedia defines the word "hone" as "sharpen, refine or perfect (something) over a period of time." In the success context, this means being able to identify our strengths and weaknesses and being able to invest in ourselves.

To give more context, honing involves the following activities:

1. Identify your strengths.

The first step to becoming successful is being able to identify where we're good at or the set of skills that we have which we can use to achieve success. This is a critical factor to success because if we're not self-aware of our strengths, then it will be difficult for us to reach our goals. Our strengths will be our greatest driver in achieving great things in life.

2. Accept your flaws.

An awareness of our strengths requires the same awareness of our weaknesses. As most people say "nobody's perfect", we all have flaws and we should learn to accept them. These weaknesses don't always mean a bad thing, experts say that we can always turn these weaknesses into strengths. A popular quote from Knute Rockne (American football's most-renowned coach) reminds us to "build up our weaknesses until they become our strong points."

3. Be open to learning.

According to John Dewey (an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer), "the most important attitude that can be found is the desire to go on learning". This is one of the best qualities of successful people. They never stop learning, they are always hungry for new information and never cease to learn new things every day. Open-mindedness is an important ingredient to success. A famous quote from Dalai Lama (a popular Tibetan Buddhist monk) says "the mind is like a parachute, it works best when it is open." Funny, but true.

4. Explore learning opportunities.

One good thing about the generation we are in today is that we are already in the information and communication age, which makes access to information very easy. Through the power of technology, we can easily learn by just browsing the web or through social media channels. We just have to leverage and take advantage of these, but we must also keep a keen eye and filter the information we're taking in as not all information available online is true.

Other than these platforms for learning, no one is stopping us from learning via the traditional methods such as reading books and attending classes to further increase our knowledge. At the end of the day, it wouldn't matter what platforms we are using, what's most important is the fact that we invest in ourselves through learning. As the famous Albert Einstein once said: "once you stop learning, you start dying".
 

5. Find a mentor.

One interesting fact that we need to know is that every successful person in the world, no matter what field they are in, has their own mentors. This is the secret why successful people continue to be successful.

Bob Proctor (an American speaker, author, consultant, coach, and mentor) defines a "mentor" as "someone who sees more talent and ability within us than we see in ourselves, and helps bring those out of us." Bo Sanchez (a popular Catholic lay preacher and minister in the Philippines) also shared that "getting a mentor is the shortcut to success", but Robert Kiyosaki (a well-known American businessman and best-selling author) also reminds us that "mentors in life are important, so we have to choose them wisely."

6. Invest time to improve yourself.

One of the habits I learned from Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is to "sharpen the saw". This means "preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have - you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. As you renew yourself in each of the four areas, you create growth and change in your life. Sharpen the Saw keeps you fresh so you can continue to practice the other six habits. You increase your capacity to produce and handle the challenges around you."

This simply means that if we want to be successful despite our busy lives, we should always find time to renew and improve ourselves in those 4 areas.

There you have it, folks. That's our second step in the "Success Roadmap". I hope this gives you valuable insights on why knowing and honing ourselves are important for success. Our third topic will be out tomorrow.  I'll see you in my next blog. :)

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