Learn to fix yourself

We can all improve. We all have room to grow. We can get better in any number of areas. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. We can fix the weaknesses and leverage the strengths.

So why is it that most people don’t improve throughout their lives? Why do so many people that we know seem to remain exactly the same year after year. Sure they age. They may even slow down a bit or value more family time.

But far and away, most people that I know do not improve. They don’t grow their strengths. They don’t address their weaknesses. Instead they learn to live with what they have.

This would be fine, except that many of these people look to external sources for their happiness. It isn’t that they are content and happy and don’t see a need to improve.

Instead, they see a need for everyone and everything around them to change. They want their lives to be better. But they want that ‘better’ to come automatically. They don’t want to put work in to get better. They want their circumstances to improve without their involvement.

Then they can take advantage of that improvement. They want someone else to do the hard work so they can reap the rewards.

Life isn’t this way. Life is about working on what we can control and accepting what we can’t. It is about being content without becoming complacent.

The good news is that a slight shift in attitude is all it takes to change. We shift from expecting others to change for us to changing to better meet the needs of the world.

This is where we all have control. We have control to improve us. We also have a lot of room to grow. We have the potential to be better.

This also helps to keep to a content mindset without being complacent. We don’t just sit around complaining about what is wrong with the world.

We work to improve. We strive to be better. And we allow the world around us to be what it is. We don’t spend all our time judging. We spend it improving.

In 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson, he says, “It is my firm belief that the best way to fix the world – a handyman’s dream, if ever there was one – is to fix yourself.”

He goes on to say, “There’s plenty to do, right where you are. After all, your specific personal faults detrimentally affect the world.”

Instead of looking at life as a series of misfortunes. Instead of blaming the president or the neighbor or your boss or your parents for your discontent, learn to take responsibility. Learn to improve.

If we do this then the world opens up for us. We start to realize the great potential we do have to change the world. But if we can’t even fix ourself, how can we improve the world around us?