Create Your Personal Board of Directors to Raise the Bar
August 12, 2024
"Working with a master firsthand is the best education; it's the surest way of raising the bar." Here is how to do it.
In the book "Clear Thinking" by Shane Parrish, he reminds us of this fact:
"If you do what everyone else does, you can expect the same results that everyone else gets. If you want different results, you need to raise the bar."
Excellence demands excellence, and Clear Thinking outlines two components for raising the bar:
1️⃣ Choose the right exemplars:
people that raise your standards
people you work with
people you admire
people who lived long ago
people that make you better in a skill, trait, or value
🌟 "The people we choose as our exemplars exhibit the principles, the resolve, and the overall patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting that we want to make our own. Their example helps us navigate the world. It becomes our North Star."
2️⃣ Practice imitating them in certain ways:
reflect on what they'd do in your position
act accordingly
👀 "Look around, find the best examples you can of people with attributes you want to cultivate - the people whose default behavior is your desired behavior, those who inspire you to raise the bar and make you want to be a better version of yourself."
The people we surround ourselves with profoundly impact our career success and overall well-being.
I like this idea of "curation" from the book:
💡"If you don't curate the people in your life, the people who end up surrounding you will be there by chance and not by choice."
⚡️Here is how I used the book and put my exemplars into action:
Visualize your exemplars as your "Personal Board of Directors."
Gather photos of your exemplars and add them to a PBoD collage.
Set your PBoD image as your screen background.
Look at your PBoD each morning and throughout the day.
Each person's visual cue represents a standard of excellence and traits I want to emulate.
This diverse group of people sets a bar for my best self.
Curate your PBoD often.
"When you put masters on your board, you raise the bar for yourself. What seemed good enough before doesn't seem good enough anymore."
❓Who is on your Personal Board of Directors?
♻️ Reshare this post with your network if you found a helpful nugget.
🚀 This concept is part of the "Inner Quest" cohort curriculum, which helps people strengthen their self-awareness and derive insights that unlock their full potential. Check out the cohort course to see if it fits you.