Why most people don't really want to be the best version of themselves

There are many reasons for being overlooked and that is something that many of us don't consider when it happens. Human nature usually wants to blame something or someone, but quite often it's very obvious. You just forgot to see it.

If you do the bare minimum, you will get the bare minimum. 

When you decide you know it all, it's only downhill from there as you never know it all and no matter where you are in life, you can always improve.

Many of us were brought up with parents that said, "good job" and "you are so amazing" often even when we did the smallest of things. What that did for our subconscious is trained it to believe that doing an average job is actually a good job. We then spend years thinking about why we didn't get that job and someone else did or why we haven't achieved the echelons in society we had hoped.

In my family, there was no fan-fare. In fact, nothing was said when we achieved something other than perhaps a gift at the end of each year for good grades at school. When I say good grades, I mean straight A's in my era. So at some point in my youth I made a decision that I had to grade my own performance and not look to anyone else. I had to set benchmarks that I would aim to achieve and if I didn't achieve them, I would evaluate why and try again.

If you truly believe that you want to reach the next level in your career, here are some sure signs that you have what it takes:

If you are not good at something, you do the training, development or whatever it takes to perfect it.

Some people aren't good public speakers or not the best writers, yet in their job they have to present at times to their team or to an audience. They have to write proposals and emails. The better they are at doing these things, the greater chance they will get noticed.

If you are good at something, become better

Now this is the real clincher. If you are good at something, become better. Just because you are good today, things change, people come in that may be better than you, and there is always room for improvement in everything we do. Become better!

Listen as much as you can

By listening you are learning more about the person than what they are saying. You need to look at their body language, the way they engage, the meaning behind what they are saying and whether or not they hold eye contact. These things are valuable and so is learning and you can learn from every single person you meet.

If you take a seat at the table, don't waste it

For those who think that having a seat at the table is as good as it gets - you are wrong. There is no point in taking the seat if you don't use it. You need to know how to use your voice in a powerful way that sends the messages you need to have discussed or considered in that room heard. Otherwise, what is the point?