*One thing Shay Stone knows about is how to improve yourself.
Why? Because as an Author, Life Coach, and Animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios she has done it in her own life over and over again.
She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Animation at Full Sail University and has been working, professionally, in the film, television and game industry for over 11 years. In the animation industry, Shay is known for her intangible acting skills which relate to her lifetime obsession with human behavior and psychology.
Her new book, Be Better Than You, according to Shay, is a “lifestyle that everyone is capable of adopting. It’s a calling to raise the level of competition within yourself. An obsession to be better every day, in every way and in the most obsessive way.”
The Number One Bestseller in Behavioral Psychology on Amazon upon its release, Shay shared below some of its tenets.
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EURweb: How long does it take?
EURweb: How can you BE BETTER THAN YOU?
Shay: Naturally, when we think about bettering ourselves, we either think about what we need to change. That, or we compare ourselves to others to establish where we stand in the world. But, both of those tactics are not only unnecessary, but they’re also destructive.
The movement, Be Better Than You, is about embracing yourself – your uniqueness – your individual journey unsolicited by outside influences. For starters, this means understanding that we are wildly unique beings with a specific purpose of our own. Furthermore, realizing that it’s silly to not only compare ourselves to others, but beat ourselves up for not aligning with someone else’s unique destiny.
We live in a world that thrives on competition. We, naturally, love competing with others and comparing ourselves to others as a motivation to get better and be better. And, while healthy competition is conducive to success, competition, by comparison, is conducive to self-destruction.
Be Better Than You is about eliminating the urge the oblige, prioritizing your well-being and setting you up to be the leader of your life.
Shay: The beauty about being better than you is that it lasts forever. One thing that we tend to forget is that there is no official end goal to Life. Outside of death, there is no final destination. This proves that life’s ultimate goal about becoming: growing.
I know that’s not the popular answer. As a culture, we want what is quick and easy. The irony is behind that is tenfold. For starters, we don’t realize how easy it actually is to create the life that we want. Secondly, we’ve witnessed time and time again that quick and easy isn’t sustainable. We even question the quality of certain things when they happen too quickly. Lastly, one of the biggest issues we’re experiencing as a culture is depression and unfulfillment. A large part of this is that our lives lack meaning. We’re on the go, but we’re not conscious.
The Be Better Than You lifestyle is about competing with yourself to be better than yourself. A habit of achieving from the inside out, instead of the outside in.
We can all agree that no one is perfect and that there’s always room to get better. With that, the train never stops.
EURweb: Did you ever have a point in your life where things weren’t working out?
Shay: Of course. It happens often. That’s life.
One of the things I harp on in my book is “perspective.” Perspective is one of the most dominant powers one can gain. An elite level of perspective, that is. Many people believe that perspective is just a matter of opinion. But opinions aren’t powerful, they’re mostly useless and require very little thought — or knowledge. Perspective is the power that keeps you from getting stuck: mentally, spiritually, and physically. It stems from understanding. An elite level of perspective is the key to getting what you want in life despite what happens in the physical world.
So, when things aren’t working out, I usually understand why, and I understand how to navigate through whatever the situation is to get what I initially wanted. This is so important, and I talk about this in great detail throughout my entire book, Be Better Than You. It’s a large part of why I wrote the book. To be honest, I had enough of witnessing people get stomped on. I can’t stand witnessing people feel powerless, especially knowing how inconceivably powerful we are. It ached me to witness people give up because they feel like they’re out of options or don’t know what to do. Lastly, witnessing the overwhelming hindrance of fear. This book helps rid all of that.
EURweb: What is your most important quote, advice or tip?
Shay: Fortunately, you can’t generalize what’s most important as what’s “most important” heavily depends on the individual and their circumstance. However, the most important thing to understand is that your life – your story – isn’t comparable to anyone else on the planet. Your life – your story – shouldn’t be decided by outside influences.
The mantra of Be Better Than You, and my famous quote is, “The moment you activate the thought of competing with someone else, you’ve already lost.” This means…
When you decide that you want to be better than someone, suddenly, you’re controlled by them. You give up everything you are for the chance of one-upping their every move. Now, you may think, “Come on, that’s not true — wanting to be the best has nothing to do with giving up who you are.” And, that is true. However, wanting to be the best and wanting to be better than somebody else are two different operations. One, you operate on the premise of what you need to do — the other, you operate on the premise of monkey see, monkey do.
When you focus on what someone else is doing, there’s no focus on what you’re doing. And, in the process of that, you begin to create separation within yourself. On one side, you have the core of who you are — and on the other side, you have who you’re pretending to be. This is how you lose. Because when it comes to your needs and what you want — you have to double and triple check with the other images you’ve created in your head. This becomes just as agonizing as it is to keep up with a lie. You have to remember which hat you’re wearing. You lose which thread to follow — and soon, you lose you. This ties in with one of my favorite quotes: “Be careful who you pretend to be, you might forget who you are.”
Learning from someone you admire, versus competing with someone you envy makes the difference when it comes to winning or losing. Success, of any kind, requires your undivided attention. The moment you attempt to split your focus will be the moment you fall off course. Stay in your lane. Play your game, and keep the focus on how to Be Better Than You.
For purchase and more information on Be Better Than You and Stay Stone go to www.bebetterthanyou.com. You can also follow her on Instagram at @shaystone.s
source: Jocelyn Coleman – FavorPR.com
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