How to Become the Man or Woman You Want To Be
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
Are you happy with the person you are right now? Do you have a vision for the future that excites you? Are you the kind of person you want to be? If not, what’s stopping you from becoming that person? What is holding you back from becoming the man or woman you want to be? You still have time to become the person of your dreams. You just need to know what your dreams are, how to start working on them, and how to keep going when things get tough. Becoming the kind of person you want to be isn’t easy; it takes courage and hard work. But reading this article means that you care enough about yourself to take action. That’s a good sign.
What does it take to become the person you want to be?
From the time we were young, we were told “you can be anything you want to be.” But first you need to decide what that is. You can’t become what you don’t know. Take some time to think about what kind of person you want to be – What is your role in this world? What do you have to offer? What kind of impact do you want to make on the world? What do you want your life to look like? What kind of relationships do you want to have? What kind of lifestyle would make you happy? What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind? And what do you need to do to get there? You may think that it’s impossible to become the person you want to be. You may have given up on your dreams. Or maybe you don’t think you have what it takes to succeed. But you can become the person you want to be if you’re willing to put in the work.
Get clear about what you want to be
The first step to becoming the person you want to be is to get clear about what you want to be. You need to have a crystal clear idea of your goals and ambitions, and the type of person you want to be. The clearer you are about the person you want to be, the easier it will be to take the steps towards becoming that person. How do you want to be remembered? What do you want your life to be about? What do you want to be known for? You can’t become a certain type of person unless you know what type of person you want to be. Every person has something special to offer the world, but you need to know what that something is before you can offer it to the world.
Commit to change – and make a plan
You can’t become the person you want to be if you aren’t committed to change. If you want to grow and develop, you have to put in the hard work. You have to be willing to make sacrifices, and push yourself outside of your comfort zone. You have to be willing to fail and make mistakes. You may not know where to start, or how to go about becoming the person you want to be. But that’s okay; that’s why you have a plan. You can’t become a certain type of person without a plan. And you can’t change your life without a plan. You may not be able to see the path ahead of you, but that’s okay. You just need to take one step at a time and keep moving forward. Often, your plan will include what you need to know and/or learn in order to be qualified to do what you want to do. Talk to people who are already doing it. People you already know are the best people to ask to provide introductions. The second-best choice is to use LinkedIn to locate people who they might know who you don’t know. The third best choice is to contact people you don’t know to learn how they did it.
Don’t Pay Attention to Their Title
Sometimes, people zero in on people with senior level titles as being the best people to speak with. If that is you, you are mistaken. Often, senior professionals don’t know the current techniques and have forgotten the real way they made a transition because they have been telling the same sanitized homogenized version of their professional history for a long time. As a result, they have forgotten the reality of how they made the switch. Speak with everyone you can especially young or less experienced people. Remember, they know people who you don’t. You can learn from them and receive introductions to others.
Find your motivation
If you want to become the person you want to be, you’re going to have to make sacrifices and push yourself outside of your comfort zone. You’re going to have to work through the pain and disappointment to go after your dreams even when they seem impossible. What’s your motivation for doing all this? What’s the reason or reasons you want to do this? What are you hoping to achieve by becoming this person? It can help to write down your reasons for wanting to become the person you want to be. It can also help to talk to someone about your reasons for wanting to change. Talking about your reasons for wanting to change can make them more real. It can help you to stay motivated when times get tough. Talking about your wanting to change can commit you to action. When I ran the New York Marathon, my motivation was simple—a man who can run and finish a marathon can do anything. It was my driving thought through a year of training
Stay Motivated Even When It’s Hard
It can be easy to get discouraged when you’re working towards your dreams and running into roadblocks. You have to be able to push through the hard times, and keep moving forward even when it feels like you’re not making any progress. You know what it feels like to be the person you want to be, and you know what it feels like to be the person you don’t want to be. Which one do you want to be? Which one do you want to be remembered as? The key to staying motivated when it’s hard is to remember why you want to change. Remember what your reasons are for wanting to become the person you want to be. Remember what it feels like to be the person you want to be.
When I decided to run the New York Marathon, I told everyone I knew about my plan. Everyone was excited for me and cheered me on as I began to train. Training for a year to run the race, people disappeared until a few weeks before the race when they all started asking, “Are you running New York?” Telling people what I was planning to do kept me on target to run it and finish it. Remembering that a man who could run and finish a marathon could do anything made it possible for me to finish.
The Bottom line
Becoming the person you want to be isn’t easy, but it is possible if you care enough. You can’t be what you don’t know, so it’s important to be clear about the type of person you want to be and what you need to learn to get there. It is also helpful to think like the kind of person you want to be and, most importantly, have the courage to change. Develop the discipline to stay the course, even when it gets hard. Find supportive people who will be be with you emotionally through the journey. Everything you do AND don’t do, can make the difference to you.
Ⓒ The Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2022
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a career and leadership coach who worked as a recruiter for more than 40 years. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with more than 2400 episodes. He also hosts Job Search TV on YouTube, and Amazon, as well as on BingeNetworks.tv for Apple TV and 90+ smart sets.
I do a livestream on LinkedIn, YouTube (on the JobSearchTV.com account) and on Facebook (on the Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter page) Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 PM Eastern. You can send your questions about job search, hiring better, management, leadership or to get advice about a workplace issue to me through LinkedIn’s messaging .You can also message me through chat during the approximately 30 minute show.
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