Where Are You At?

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

As William Shakespeare said “Above all to thine own self be true.”

Regardless of where and how you have experienced life it is never too late to put into practice what Mr. Shakespeare said. Unfortunately for many of us, we neglected to believe our self was to be defined by us and no one else.

Perhaps the best indicator of our true self is our happiness, and yet for many of us we have been led to believe it is based solely on our successful achievement in life. Even those who have achieved and must maintain such a level of success, such a lack of happiness can be depressing.

As a small business consultant, I found numerous entrepreneurs who were successful, but had a sense of frustration regarding the ongoing expansion of their success. For the most part these people were fortunate and committed to their work. However they were, often times frustrated that they were not better able to move forward.

During this same time I worked with an industry association of similar businesses in the development and presentation of a conference where they could meet and share ideas with one another, even though they were actually competitors in close by towns and communities. Not many, but a few did bring along an employee of theirs, and the results were quite impressive. These employers found that their employees came away with a new understanding and appreciation of their roles in the success of the owner’s business.

In retrospect this was a perfect example of “Above all to thine own self be true.” These employers found a new means by which they could pursue success and it made a big difference to them. What I believe they did was to embrace and apply the elements of a happy success, which are encouragement, participation and expansion.

In other words they understood their goals, but came to the realization that if they could encourage their employees to be their best (an increase of self-esteem) and contribute through proper participation, the business, their employees and they themselves could participate, benefit and enjoy a more happy success.

So where do you go from here?

If you really stop and think about it, you could impact virtually every relationship you are a part of or will be, simply by applying “Above all to thine own self be true.” I honestly believe we are here to expand and enjoy more life and this is one approach that can and will have a positive outcome for you.