Since time immemorial, human beings are continuously working for self-improvement. With all its technological advancement, the current civilization is a result of that effort. If our ancestors were satisfied by living in a cave & eating raw foods, they wouldn’t try to advance themselves by discovering fire & wheels. Instead, they found some Ways to Start Working on self-improvement & gradually developed themselves.
Self-improvement & expansion are crucial to be the best version of yourself. Working on self-improvement can include creating good habits, having a self-care ritual, & learning new skills.
How to Improve Yourself
1. Keep Learning
One of the best Ways to Start Working on yourself is by welcoming continuous learning. We often think that our learning ends after getting a school or college degree. Real-life shows otherwise. Millions of lessons can’t be taught or found in a traditional classroom. Those educational institutes can provide knowledge, but wisdom comes with knowing life more.
As a famous quote says, “Knowledge is knowing tomato is fruit, wisdom is not putting it in fruit salad.” You can only have that wisdom if you open yourself to learning from practical life & the world. After all, the best classroom is the world itself. Be a keen student in that classroom & don’t ever think you have known ample or you have gathered enough knowledge & stop it.
2. Keep Adopting New Skills
Besides learning something new, adopting new skills is equally vital to improving yourself. A new hobby is an excellent way to expand your mind, push you out of your comfort zone, & help you to develop yourself. You can explore your interests to find out what appeals to you most.
The new skill you try to adopt can be something other than your current industry. It can be anything. You can learn a new language, paint, cook, or do graphic design. Try anything you are interested in. The good thing about technological advancement is you can find many online courses or tutorials to help you learn them. Many of them are free.
3. Think About Your Habits
If you are trying to improve yourself, you must improve your habits. Note down your good habits & habits you want to get rid of. Getting rid of bad habits, like smoking or drinking, can help you significantly develop yourself. Quitting them will not only help you to become a better version of yourself but will also restore your health.
Eliminate bad habits & try to create some good habits in their place, such as waking up early, exercising daily, or eating healthy. Commit yourself. Getting rid of these negative habits will not only make you a mentally strong person but also a responsible one.
However, some habits like smoking, drinking, or substance abuse can be hard to eliminate. There is help available nowadays. Go for them if you genuinely want to eliminate them.
4. Know Your Strengths & Weaknesses
We often tend to overlook our weaknesses by thinking them to be insignificant or trivial. That is our major mistake. Any weakness can cause trouble in our lives in unpredictable ways. It is best to check on them.
Identify & accept your weaknesses in a nonjudgmental way & commit to rectifying them. Covering your weaknesses is never the answer to Self-Improvement. The key is turning your weaknesses into your strengths. It is the best method for Ways to Start Working.
5. Make A Gratitude Journal
We often need more than our current life & try to improve it. There’s no harm in it, but we often complain too much. That complaint often comes from comparisons. Comparisons with our relatives, friends, and cousins. We get so engrossed in their achievements & status that we often forget & overlook what we have.
If we look carefully, we will find many things to be thankful for. We might be complaining about our small apartment, but we don’t think many people are spending nights under the sky or in rescue camps as they lost their homes & family in a recent earthquake. We might be unhappy that we can’t afford that flashy gadget like our neighbor, but we forget many can’t afford their meals.
Take a diary & note down things you are thankful for. If you are in a good mood after a good breakfast, note that down. If a cute pappy has licked your hand & filled your heart with warmth, note that too. Write each day about the things that made you happy & you are thankful for.
6. Make Realistic Goals
If you have identified your strengths & weaknesses & working to diminish your weaknesses, you need to set realistic goals for yourself. Consider what you can accomplish by using your strengths, skills & set some goals. Goals can be lofty, but they need to be realistic, too.
Often, we set the bar so high that it becomes off-putting. Set your goals & standards according to your strengths & reality. It can be helpful to break your goals into smaller milestones. Smaller milestones seem more achievable & less intimidating.
For example, if you aim to establish a successful business, break it into several parts. First, plan the nature of your business, then plan a strategy, then how to get finance for your business & so on. Track your progress with those milestones & you will find you are progressing steadily to your ultimate goal. It is the best method for Ways to Start Working.
7. Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
We often create a comfort zone around us. That makes us feel safe but prevents our development. No development can be achieved by sitting comfy on a couch & by not risking anything. You need to try new things, take new risks, and try new ventures that make you uncomfortable.
If you haven’t tried anything by thinking you will surely fail, you have already failed. By trying something new, you can fail, but there is a 50-50 chance that you may succeed by not trying that you are making that possibility a zero for your success. A small example is your business idea may be a disaster. If you never try it, you are only proving yourself right.
Benefits Of Self-Improvement
Improving yourself is vital for achieving goals & constantly growing in your personal & professional life. Ways to Start Working on self-improvement can have these effects:
Professional Growth: You may invite a promotion or raise by developing your skill sets. Set realistic goals & learn new skills to help you to develop your career.
Personal Growth: Improving yourself is crucial if you have a personal goal. It can be to become fitter, quit bad habits, become bold, and improve self-esteem & self-compassion.
Personal Relationships: Self-improvement can help you improve your personal relationships, allowing you to communicate better with people, spend quality time with your loved ones, & determine boundaries.
FAQs
Q: How long does it take to improve me?
A: It entirely depends on your goals & your ways of improving yourself.
Q: Why often don’t we try to improve ourselves?
A: It happens because self-improvement takes commitment, dedication & effort. We often confine ourselves in a comfort zone that doesn’t motivate us to do that.
Q: Are there any books on self-improvement?
A: There are many books on that topic. Some of them are:
- Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment, by George Leonard.
- Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill.
- On the Shortness of Life by Lucius Annaeus Seneca.
- Principles: Life and Work, by Ray Dalio.
- Conscious Business: How to Build Value through Values, by Fred Kofman.
