Henry Ford said, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” In a world that is constantly changing and evolving, it goes without saying that to be accommodated or to be seen as worthy, you have to continuously think of how to improve yourself.
You have to continue to be the best you can be to remain at the top of the food chain in terms of career opportunities and friendship opportunities.
Improving yourself also affects your personal life, it makes you a more sociable person and gives you an aura of confidence.
There are various answers to the question, “how to improve yourself”, but here are a few that I feel are the most important below:
1. Pursue Your Goals
Set goals that inspire you, goals that are related to your dreams, that spur you on to become better. It is easier to pursue a goal that you like rather than one you hate; therefore, this is an intentional move that will bring you closer to achieving them.
Also, if you’re thinking of how to improve yourself every day, you can break your goals down not just in time fragments but also into different points: that is to say, in your list of short term goals, you can break down a point into sub-points to make them even more practical and achievable.
All of this is just to make sure the process is an easy one because there may be some setbacks. Failure to achieve a particular goal does not imply that your list of goals for the week or month is not achievable, it only shows that the particular goal was not practical enough. It also widens your vision to see different areas in your life where you need to exert more focus.
2. Save And Invest Now
Sophia Amoruso said, “Money looks better in the bank than on your feet.” Cultivating a habit of saving is a very efficient pointer on how to improve yourself. It not only improves your lifestyle, but it also increases your confidence.
This is because there is a surety associated with having extra money in the bank: you know that you will hardly ever be at the mercy of someone else if an emergency comes up.
It is also a good idea to invest whatever extra funds you may have in sustainable businesses with a growth pattern. This is a practical way of making your money work for you and it teaches you how to improve yourself financially.
Although, it is advisable to consult with financial experts, to avoid investing your hard-earned cash in a company or venture with no future insight.
3. You Never Know How Life Is Going To Turn Out
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Life is unexpected and it always has twists and turns. True strength does not lie in your ability to avoid challenges, it lies in your ability to face the challenges and rise after a tough one pushes you down.
In every situation, you should always be ready to ask yourself “How could I improve?” You should be able to accept impromptu changes and turn them into something better by being able to think on your feet; this is a great way to practice how to improve yourself.
Instead of sulking because someone does not deliver a project or a service, use the time to find someone who would do it better or do a different service that would impress the client.
Even while looking at the big picture, whenever life doesn’t go according to plan, change your perspective. There may be a detail you’re missing that could change that apparent disappointment to the best gift you have received. It all depends on your mindset.
4. Acquire Knowledge And Experience
If you want to know how to improve yourself, invest money in improving your knowledge bank. “I think therefore I am” was a statement made by the famed philosopher, René Descartes.
No matter how insignificant a particular piece of information seems, it is never completely useless. This also applies to gathering experience.
You could volunteer for foundations and associations that share the same ideals with you. Always reach out to people better than you for volunteer work, job opportunities, and courses.
It is better to spend money on intellectual material than on items that depreciate over time. This is not to state that you should not spend an adequate amount of money on outfits and personal indulgences, after all, you are addressed how you dress.
5. You Are Your Biggest Investment
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Always put in the time to be a better person, continuously try to level up. This is somewhat similar to the previous point of acquiring knowledge. If you’re thinking of how to transform yourself into a new person, you should try to invest in yourself.
This could be learning a new language, learning how to play an instrument, taking up a certificate course in your career path, or even volunteering with some big names in your industry.
The world is experiencing very trying times and to make sure you remain invaluable you need to actively put in the time, money, and resources to improve yourself.
This is because, at the end of the day when all else fails, you are your biggest investment. You can always rely on your mind and your talents to pull you out of whatever pickle you may be stuck in.
6. Take Care Of Your Health
As humans, we need to make sure we remain at the peak of our health whether physical, mental, or emotional health. Thankfully, the world has started to take cognizance of mental health challenges and has started to spread awareness about it.
A lot of people tend to overlook their mental health challenges until they may have deteriorated into deadly symptoms like suicidal tendencies and often, it is too late.
If you notice suspicious changes in your mood or some other disturbing symptoms, please do not hesitate to see a professional.
Also, it is advisable to carry out psychologically stimulating activities like yoga and meditation to improve your mental health. Protect your mental health blindly.
In the same vein, your physical health should not be left to fate: meet professionals that can guide you on how to improve yourself physically.
Take active measures to live a healthy lifestyle: eat a balanced, well-proportioned diet; exercise regularly; check vital signs like weight, pulse rate, and blood pressure regularly; and always go to the hospital for routine checkups.
You need to consider how to improve your life quality to be able to correctly think about how to improve yourself.
7. It’s Not About Time, It’s About Priority
Everybody has the same amount of time in a day, 24 hours. This is to say your improvement is not dependent on the amount of time you have, but on what you do with that time.
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As a student, it makes no sense to watch your favorite show before writing an assignment that is due the next day. You should prioritize your activities to ensure that you achieve the most important things on your list every day.
This also applies to every area of our lives even in our financial budgets and goal plans. The most important goals should take up the first five slots in your list and the remaining can take other slots. This reinforces their importance and reminds you regularly that you need to achieve them.
8. Start A 30-Day Challenge
This is to help you push yourself and develop the habit of consistency and determination. Following the 30-day challenge through to the end instills the belief in you that you can carry out any task that requires consistency or that may become repetitive and drab.
Additionally, if you’re thinking of how to improve your lifestyle, this is a great way to do it. To begin, you can try out the free 30-day challenge that we have provided at the end of this article.
9. Create A Life Handbook
Basically, this is a book that contains all of your goals, dreams, purposes, and action plans. It contains everything you need to live your life to the fullest.
It could even double as a bucket list for you: you could write down places you want to travel to, foods you want to taste, languages you want to learn, and games you want to play.
Time waits for no one and before you know it, if these things are not written down, you may forget about them and only remember them years later when the opportunity has passed.
This handbook could be your reminder which you update monthly or yearly. Whenever you open it, you could tick the things you’ve achieved and begin to plan towards the next set of dreams.
You could also write life lessons based on experiences you’ve picked up along the way. Your handbook can contain whatever you deem appropriate for it, it is about your life after all.
10. Let Go Of Your Ego
Nobody wants to ever work with an egoistic person. This is not to say you should not have a high sense of self-esteem, but it is a warning to make sure that your self-esteem doesn’t develop into a more sinister feeling of pride.
No matter how talented or skilled you are, if you are conceited or egoistic it greatly limits your chances of communication with others and therefore self-improvement.
They may applaud your talents but that’s where it usually ends, they never mention you for referrals. Having an ego can also make you reject opportunities that could otherwise be a means of self-improvement.
You would reject good deals or put down superb opinions simply because you think you’re better than the tutor or the decision-maker when in reality it is your ego clouding your vision.
If you have been told that you have an ego and you have a problem letting go of it, you may approach a psychologist for professional help.
11. Take Risks
Always be prepared to take calculated risks. In business opportunities and even friendships, there are always going to be risks and some of them may not go according to plan.
They may not necessarily lead to success stories but they always teach you valuable life lessons.
This goes to show that to know how to improve yourself and become the absolute best in whatever you plan to do, you must be a risk-taker. You must be able to make the decisions others are not willing to and you must be ready to ask the questions others ignore.
12. Enjoy The Journey
As a young person trying to figure out how to improve yourself, the journey is sometimes more important than the destination. When going on a road trip, the journey with all of the sightseeing, pit stops, and other obstacles are just as important as the destination. Use the same approach to real life.
Try not to be in such a hurry to get to your goal that you miss all the valuable lessons that helped you get there. The time spent, lessons learned, happiness shared and mistakes made is what make up your success story.
It’s all part of your journey, in a few years you’ll look back at it and teach someone from it. So now that you’re experiencing it, enjoy it, take pleasure in it, some opportunities missed may not be regained.
Take pride in how far you’ve come. Have faith in how far you can go, but don’t forget to enjoy the journey.
13. Face Your Fear
Whenever you feel the urge to avoid a situation or cower, choose the option of facing your fear instead. A little bit of fear is normal and humane, in fact, it often alerts us of danger ahead.
Some people also see it as listening to their instincts. But if you want to know how to improve yourself, there are some situations that you do not need to be afraid of, and these situations mostly arise from previous trauma.
It could be something as precise as a fear of a particular place because of an accident that occurred in the past or something more general, like a fear of public speaking. In both cases, the victim is often overwhelmed by fear and anxiety and cannot carry out a task that may be related to these situations.
It is always important to face your fears because it can hinder you from self-improvement and the benefits that come with it.
If the fear seems insurmountable, try to micromanage the situation by breaking your thoughts into small bits and thinking about little solutions to them.
You could also talk to friends and family about your problem or ask people you know who overcame that same fear.
14. Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
This is a very important habit you need to develop to know how to improve yourself. Be ready to stretch, re-stretch, and stretch some more. Be ready to do the things you couldn’t have dreamt of before.
Start taking the difficult steps towards achieving those goals instead of just writing them down and closing the book forever. Get out of your comfort zone to make your dreams come true.
15. Get A Mentor Or Coach
This is very important if you truly want to know how to improve yourself. I believe everyone should have a mentor, whether it’s somebody you relate with or an icon you may never meet.
They can help you avoid mistakes they’ve made, tutor you in areas you’re lacking, and help you climb the ladder of success faster and easier. People say experience is the best teacher: but I don’t think it needs to be your experience. You don’t need to make the same mistake your mentor made because there will be new ones for you to make.
16. Socialize And Network
Your clients or customers are seldom in your friendship circle. Do you want to know how to improve yourself? Go out, take a walk, interact with people from other walks of life.
Sell yourself. Whenever you go to a party, communicate in such a way that people have a lasting impression of you and of what you can do for them. Engage in meaningful conversations no matter where you are, exchange ideas, tolerate different concepts.
Get over your fear of interaction and socialize with people, offline and online. Referrals are important and they come from your various networks. You don’t necessarily need to ask for favors, you just need to let people know why they need you in their lives.
17. Let Go Of The Past
Forgive and forget. This is a very important mantra for everyone who wants to continuously improve themselves.
You cannot move on and improve if you don’t loosen the chains of the past; if you don’t forgive people and let go of grudges.
They weigh on your mind and stress you. You are going to encounter a lot of obstacles and make a lot of mistakes in the journey of life, but your strength would be measured by your ability to admit your wrongdoing and forgive yourself for it.
Let go of mistakes that you committed in the past and have no power of, don’t beat yourself up over situations you couldn’t handle, amend whatever you can, forgive people, and most importantly, forgive yourself.
18. Acknowledge Your Flaws
You are a human being, you are not perfect, make peace with this and accept it. Make your flaws your own, don’t be afraid of them or ashamed of them.
Do not allow them to be weaponized against you, instead own them, they are what make you. Acknowledging the presence of your flaws is a show of courage and intelligence and is a great step if you want to know how to improve yourself.
It shows that you understand humanity and how dependent we are on each other. You understand that you have limitations and sometimes you may need someone to complement you to bring out the best.
Of course, if you’re thinking of how to become a better person inside and out and you know you have a bad character flaw like dishonesty, you should try to do away with it. Acknowledging bad character flaws without trying to change them puts a dent on your integrity and on your person.
19. Invest In Your Happiness
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Do things that make you happy. Take out time for vacations and plan hangouts with friends. Make space for leisure activities and set out some money in your monthly budget and your life handbook.
This should be part of your life improvement plan. If you’re introverted, engage in whatever activities bring you happiness. Whether it’s reading books or playing games, don’t let anyone shame you for having fun. Protect your space and your mental health aggressively.
Also, take care of yourself, create a daily routine. Meditate, exercise or create a skincare program, do everything possible to take care of your mind and body.
20. Get Into Action
Just do it. Think about how to improve yourself: then get up and start. Don’t postpone what can be done today. To improve, you need to actually do something about your current position.
You could decide to move at a faster pace or to do things differently but you need to get into action. Nobody has ever gotten better by dreaming about it, everyone with a success story put in the work. So start now, put in the work.
These tips are guaranteed to teach you how to improve yourself as a person. They are proven to help you move at the pace you desire if you put in the work to become better and you approach it with the right mindset.
You should not compete with your contemporaries; in reality, you should compete with yourself. Try to be better than you were a minute ago. Always strive to be the best you.
