Do you strive for self-improvement?

Do you strive for self-improvement? Growing up, my Dad really drilled into my head that people should strive to be successful in life. May 5th marks five years of him being gone. The legacy he left with me was to be constantly improving in all areas of my life including spiritually. For more about the history of my Dad and I, you can find that here Broken Hallelujah and “Look What You Made Me Do”.
So recently I’ve been on a kick of reading motivational books. I’m currently listening to the audio of “No Limits: Blow The Cap Off Your Capacity” by John C. Maxwell. I don’t know about you but when I think about self-improvement, I immediately think about my physical and mental shape.

This book is about so much more than that. This is about maximizing your capacity in 17 areas of your life. Maxwell guides you on how to identify, grow, and apply your critical capacities. I wanted to share with you some of the discoveries I’ve made and hopefully encourage you to find more about your own capacities.
John C. Maxwell came up with a Capacity quiz that tests you in 17 areas. When you start reading the book, he suggest you take this quiz. You can take this quiz for free or you can pay for one here. I just took the free one. Just keep answering questions and click next. You can get the results but you do have to enter an email.
The results will show you what areas you have greater capacity that you haven’t quite tapped into yet. Meaning you can improve. The higher the score, the more you are reaching your max capacity, which is a good thing.
It pains me to say this but from the quiz I discovered my weaker points to be: energy, production, and creativity. Maxwell’s advice in the book on energy that struck me most was to pay attention to what increases or decreases your energy. Reduce the energy suckers as much as you can. Then tap into things that increase your energy capacity and focus on things that matter most to you.
Production is your ability to follow through with things. I come up with all kinds of ideas but don’t follow through as quickly as I would like to. Creativity is also something I’m working on improving. I can be very black and white in my thinking and could use some creative pops of color in regards to ideas. This is one of the reasons why my husband balances me out so well. He is always thinking up creative ideas.
My top categories were all tied and those were: responsibility, character, discipline, intentionality, attitude, risk, spiritual, and growth. I think my attitude and willingness to take risks isn’t as “perfect” as the quiz gives me credit for.

I’d be curious to see how you rank in all 17 areas on the free capacity quiz. I believe this book is helping me focus on how to better myself in all these categories. John Maxwell has already given me great advice in the areas of energy, emotion, and thinking. Lord knows I’m not the best manager of my emotions especially when it comes to failure, criticism, and pressure.
“No Limits” is definitely worth reading if you’re looking to improve yourself. If you don’t have time to listen or read the book, you can take the 5 minute quiz so you can unearth what your weaker and stronger areas are at least.

Do you strive for self-improvement or do you feel stagnant?

A Prayer For You

Lord God, thank You for creating us with so many unique giftings. Show us how to reach our full potential in You and as we learn our strengths and weaknesses. We want to make a difference for You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Stay hopeful!