Most people define success by some tangible effort and its consequential output based on favorable result. We think that our efforts concerning our outside environment leads us to success. It can be true for a few, but for most people success can only be achieved through an inward journey.

This inward journey includes some solid efforts towards self-awareness, with the courage to act while practicing patience with yourself. Diagnosing your greater purpose and discovering your strengths and weaknesses. Finally, giving yourself the respect and love you are worthy of.

Why an Inward Journey

The longest relationship you will ever have is with yourself. You should be the most important person in your life, even if your goals in life are focused on helping others.

“You can’t achieve any of your goals without being on good terms with yourself first.“

Being in a state of awareness and appreciation for yourself, supports your physical, psychological, and spiritual growth.

Your inward journey becomes most crucial when you get lost in unnecessary routines and habits that don’t serve your greater good. That’s when you find yourself pointlessly doing random things that keep you busy and stressed at the same time. That’s when you need to spend some hours with yourself to get to know what the bigger picture is you are striving towards.

Some good questions to ask yourself include:

Is every action pointed in the right direction? Is everything I am doing necessary? Am I proactively making choices, or reacting to situations? This simple session with yourself can help you channel your strengths towards those things that actually matter in your life.

The better you know yourself, the better your performance will be, as it happens in the case of any machinery. If you are familiar with all its features, you can get the best out of it. So, it is important to be self-aware and to channel your own “features” towards your own success. If the outcomes end up different than what you had planned, don’t take it as a failure.

“Every struggle is an opportunity to learn and this learning makes you grow, and growth gives purpose to your life.”

How to Get Started

To get you started on your inward journey, begin journaling and writing everything that comes to your mind. Writing your thoughts and then reading them helps you become more aware of what your mind and your heart is up to. 

If you find a repeating pattern of unfavorable thoughts as you journal over time — you will begin to see what you need to eliminate. You may come to know a different aspect of your personality through this practice, that can make help you leapfrog forward in your life.

Taking advice or listening to opinions of others is good, but not all advise is universal. Everyone is unique in their ability to see reality based on their own journey. If something was impossible for someone, it is not necessarily going to be impossible for you.

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” ~ Maulana Rumi

To be more connected to yourself, the first step is to remove distractions. Eliminate all the unnecessary habits, and negative people with discouraging vibes.

We are constantly absorbing negative things, from the morning newspapers to the discouraging opinions of the people around us. Even those who love us can be a source of negative vibes, at times. Still, we hope to act positively and progressively.

It is important to be kind to yourself by eliminating all the negativity from your surroundings. The start of your day should be with on a positive note of either feeling gratitude, listening to a motivational speech, or looking at your progress so far towards your goals.

“Start each day with a sense of appreciation for your own journey, and always take in positive energies in order to have a solid and powerful foundation for the rest of the day.”

It is impossible to move forward in life if you are being weighed down by negativity, anger and resentment. To start a journey towards success, make a new start with yourself by forgiving yourself. By doing that, you permit yourself to let go and move on.

If you go through all these steps, you will soon find yourself holding and controlling the reins of your life and living it the way you always wanted to.

In the season two finale episode of my podcast Rant & Grow I spoke with Kacie Main. Kacie is a writer, podcaster, and author of the book “I Gave Up Men For Lent: The story of a jaded, hopelessly romantic, health-conscious party girl’s search for meaning”. She hosts the Better You podcast and talks with people who share stories of personal transformation. 

We spent time on this episode of Rant & Grow talking about breaking away from co-dependency, and the challenges we face to develop healthy habits. If you find yourself repeating certain unfavorable patterns in your life, you won’t want to miss this podcast and learn how to navigate through changes in a healthy and constructive way.

Just click on the play button below to listen to the podcast right here.