Today’s post t the Jack’s Winning Words blog uses this quote – “Improvement begins with I.” (Arnold Glasow)
How often do you find yourself thinking or saying something about how someone else
could improve or maybe how something could be improved? Do you stop to think in those moments how you might improve? For some, it is never about them and always about others. Maybe they (you) could benefit from heeding Glasow’s advice.
Many things in life that may bother you, or which you may feel could use improvement, are things that aren’t really bad or broken; but, rather, just things that you are reacting to in a negative way. Maybe it is someone you’ve met who is dressed differently or who talks differently; maybe it is a situation at work that is not going as you had hoped it 
would; maybe it’s a relationship that has not progressed as you had imagined it. Any and all of those scenarios represent things/situations that you may feel could be improved; however, all of them also represent instances where your reaction may be the real problem.
If you start each day as Glasow’s quote suggests, with an attitude check and a quick reset to “positive”; you may find that there are fewer things that you feel need to be improved. With the right frame of mind, you may become more accepting of differences in people and more flexible in situations at work. Starting with a good feeling about yourself will also help with relationships by removing the need for constant assurances and reinforcement of your position in the relationship – it helps you stop smothering the other person out of your own insecurity.
Perhaps you can really take the quote to heart by starting each day with a quick prayer, “Lord, help me make good decisions today and be a better person.” That might get you
thinking about how to be a better person or about what improvements you can make to yourself today. Just becoming more self-aware will help. Maybe that will prevent you from blurting out some insensitive remark about someone else or maybe cause you to pause before you jump to some judgement about someone else, based solely on their appearance.
An interesting by-product of making yourself a better person is to be found in the reactions of others to the “new” you. As you become more pleasant to be around, you may find that more people gravitate to you and you become more popular. In general,
people prefer to be with other people who are upbeat and positive, rather than with a “negative Nellie”. That acceptance by others feeds upon itself to build your self-confidence and things just continue to get better.
So, the message is to focus on the “I” in the word Improvement and let the rest take care of itself. Make the conscious effort each day to be a better, more accepting and less judgmental person and see if things don’t improve in your life. Improve your life by starting with the “I” in it.
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