Becoming a Better Version of Me

Hey BracketLifer’s! It’s Rachel back on the blog this week and I’m excited to share a bit more about my personal development journey. If you are new here or don’t know much about me personally, let me give you a bit of background. Roughly five years ago, I was in the midst of finishing my second year of university feeling completely drained – both mentally and physically ­– and I couldn’t figure out why.

I’ve known since the age of 12 that I would be an entrepreneur, just like my parents. Everything I have ever worked for was for exactly that reason. Working for someone else, has never been something I’ve wanted to do. I studied really hard in school, joined a million different extracurricular activities, and quite honestly did anything I could do to add to my resume. I thought that’s what I was supposed to do to be successful. But by the time I got to university, I found myself so involved in university life and activities – that I had completely lost myself. What I thought was moving me in the right direction, was actually hindering me and my progress. 

When I went back to university for third year, I knew I had to change what I was doing. I wasn’t sure what I needed to change, but I knew the path that I was on wasn’t sustainable. I loved reading as a kid, so naturally I turned to books (and podcasts, which were all the hype at the time) for answers. I kept hearing the same quote “Leaders are Readers” and anytime I would research successful people I looked up to, I’d find out that they were also readers.

The first book I picked up was ‘Girl Wash Your Face’ by Rachel Hollis. She had just become a New York Times Bestseller with this book, and it was all the hype on social media. Naturally, I went out and bought the book and to my surprise I finished it in one sitting. It changed my entire perspective and mentality on things, and I became hungry to read more books in the personal development space. Since then, I’ve read so many different personal development books and become obsessed with listening to podcasts.

A few things I’ve learned throughout my journey:

• The only person who truly cares about you is you – so put yourself first and always take care of you.
• Self-care is not about eating chocolate cake, taking baths and watching TV. It’s moving your body (real exercise), fueling your body with nutritious food, getting adequate sleep every night, and putting in hard work to become a better version of yourself.
• If it’s not a ‘hell yes’ it’s a no. Stop being the girl who always says yes to everything. Only add things to your calendar that you truly enjoy. Don’t just do things that look good on your resume or because you think you should.
  • My dad got me this mini sign for my room in university and it sums this up perfectly “you can do anything, but not everything”. Read that again.
• You will never not be busy. Stop putting off the things you want to do and MAKE time. People make times for the things they truly care about.
• Failure is actually a good thing. It means you are working towards becoming a better you and it will make you a much stronger person along the way (as long as you keep going and don’t quit).
• Progress over Perfection always. A messy beginning is better than not starting at all because it’s not ‘perfect’ yet.
• People don’t care about you as much as you think they do. Most times it’s the voice inside of your head that is judging you and not the other way around.

Ok you get the point. But the bottom line is, if you are in a slump or feeling like you need a change, personal development may be your answer. The most rewarding thing I’ve done for myself, is to spend time learning about myself and who I want to be. I knew deep down that there was a better version of me, I just had to do the work to find it! I hope you consider doing the same!

Catch you next-next week,

Rachel Ogilvie