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What is Self-Improvement?
Self-improvement basically means the improvement of one’s knowledge, status, or character by one’s own efforts. It’s the pursuit to make ourselves better in any and every facet of life.
Setting self-improvement goals
There are two steps in setting a self-improvement goal.
- Identify your objectives.
If you don’t have specific goals in mind yet, think about what you ultimately want to accomplish in life. Picture yourself a year from now, two years from now, ten years from now: What is it you’re doing about it? When you identify your end goal, you can work backwards and generate the landmarks you’ll need to hit to attain the same. If getting promoted at your job is your end goal, then you may decide that your immediate objectives may include taking classes or gaining certifications or developing new skill that are helpful in your field.
- Establish your purpose.
It is necessary to know the purpose behind your goal. This is a critical question to ask yourself. It’s easy to say, “I want to move up at my job and make more money,” but the question is why? All the self-improvement ideas in the world won’t be helpful if you have no reasoning behind them, so determine what will ultimately bring you complete satisfaction. Do you want to excel professionally so you can feel stable and provide for your family, or is a higher-earning job a way to pursue your other passions in life? Is being an amazing parent important to you because you had a rocky childhood?
When you have your ultimate purpose, you won’t become deterred when problems arise.
Self-Improvement Tips to Improve Yourself
1. Love Yourself
The first and the most important self-improvement tip are learning to love yourself. You have to learn to accept who you are and that you are beautiful just the way you are. You’re not supposed to look like a supermodel or sing like Adele. You are just supposed to simply be you. All throughout our lives we have others put us down for who we are, what we wear, or what we believe in. They are against you but you need to be for you. If you are against you, there is no hope of living an incredible life. You need to learn to become your own ally and not your worst enemy.
Tell yourself how special you are every day of your life. It may be hard at first, but as time goes on, it becomes easier. Learn to recognize what talents and qualities you have that are special and believe me, we are all special in our own unique way.
2. Exercise
You need to make it a point to exercise a few times a week. Working up a sweat and lifting weights makes one feel good about them and improves mood. When you can’t make it to the gym, you feel less motivated in general and mood sours. If you go to the gym and don’t feel anything like this, you should try to lift heavier weights, to put yourself beyond your comfort zone. Many people “go light” either because they don’t think they can lift as much as they really can or because they fear they will get bulky.
When you lift heavy weights, your body releases more endorphins into your system. It makes you feel better and improves your mood. When you just go through the motions, your body doesn’t respond because it isn’t being worked upon. If you are brand new to lifting weights, definitely go light to start so that you don’t injure yourself.
3. Eat Better
If you are going to work out, you might as well eat well too. Most times you are feeling like crap because you are eating highly processed, sugary foods or carbs. Try to eat healthy at all times. Limit your sugar intake and eat more natural foods like fresh fruits and vegetables.
The first day or so might be hard, but give your body time to adjust and you will be amazed how much better your life becomes. That drop off of energy in the afternoon you always experience will not happen any longer. You won’t wake up tired any longer. You just have to give yourself a couple of days to adjust. Just figure out what routine works best for you and follow the same. Even if you just make it a point to drink water instead of soda and skip out on a waffle for an apple you will be doing yourself a world of good.
4. Change Your Habits
We are all creatures of habit and we follow the same routines, day in, day out. This makes our life easy, but also makes us lazy. To spice things up a bit, you need to change your habits. That does not mean you stop brushing your teeth, but maybe brush with the opposite hand. Instead of taking the same route to work every day, try a new way. Make Tuesday night’s family night or a game night. Find simple ways to change things up .The more you do this, the more you keep your mind and body on its toes and it has to keep learning.
Also, Learn how to master your mornings and you will see a positive impact on the rest of your day. Little daily self-improvement goes a long way towards achieving success. It doesn’t seem like it at that particular time, but these small changes compound and add up over time.
5. Accept Failure
One is going to fail many times in life. Failing is completely OK. In fact, you should always embrace failure. When you move out of your comfort zone, you are growing as a person. It is only natural that you may fail. Don’t believe the lie that failing is bad. Don’t fall for the lie that failure is a bad thing. It is only a bad thing if you never learn from it and keep repeating it over and over again.
Be willing to try new things, give it your best shot and if you fail, take the time to step back and analyze. Reflect on the reasons that led you to fail and keep trying again and you will grow as a person.
6. Be Thankful
It’s important for you to be thankful for all that you have. Why are so many people Sad? They are chasing happiness. They think that happiness comes from materialistic things. They fail to realize that happiness comes from within. Happiness leads to success and not the other way round. Try to be happy with all that you have. Chances are you have it better than the majority of people. Try to take a few minutes at the end of each day and think back on what happened and acknowledge the positive things in your life.
They don’t need to be important events either like scoring a promotion at work. They could be as simple as getting to spend time with your parents. Whatever it is, large or small, important or seemingly unimportant, be grateful for it all.
7. Learn a New Skill
Learning a new skill instills confidence in us. When we learn something new, we get excited and are eager to learn more about it. This increases our self-confidence and we keep growing and want to keep learning more. It’s a cycle that fuels itself. So what is it that you have always wanted to learn but didn’t pursue? Write a short list of things and then start working on learning or honing those new skills. Don’t be fearful of how difficult it could be. You can easily learn new skills on the internet watching videos, taking free courses or workshops at colleges and stores, or by reading some books.
If you are an introverted person, challenge yourself to be little more social. Don’t try to change yourself from being an introvert, but having social confidence is a great skill to have. Challenging yourself is a great tool when it comes to self-improvement. You grow as a person, by learning new things.
8. Read
Reading stimulates the mind and makes you think. It changes your perspective towards life. It keeps your brain active and engaged preventing from losing power. A well written book can transport you to the magic of worlds away from the immediate worries reducing stress. To get started reading and to stick with it pick out some books in niches that really interest you. If you like mystery novels, then search out some short books in that particular category.
The goal isn’t to read as many books as you can, but rather to get into the good habit of reading. If it takes you two months to read a book or maybe just two days, it doesn’t matter. The goal is more about developing the habit of reading than the number of books you can complete.
References:
https://jamesclear.com/self-improvement
https://www.tonyrobbins.com/personal-growth/self-improvement-plan/
