How to Improve Yourself — Self Improvement in 20 Steps
It’s a simple truth: Life only gets better when you do. Work on yourself and the rest will follow. And the good news is that you don’t need a complete makeover to improve yourself — a few easy practices can go a long way to boosting your sense of wellbeing and making your days more meaningful.
With that in mind, here’s 20 self-development practices that will help you become the very best version of yourself:
1. Keep reading as a habit.
Reading will not only help you increase your knowledge base, but also expose you to new words constantly, which will keep your brain growing. Just like going for a run gives your heart and muscles some exercise, reading helps improve your memory function by giving your brain a proper workout.
Memory declines with age, and brain functions begin to fade. However, regular reading could help slow this process, keeping your mind sharp. Here are 200+ great self-help books that you can read to keep you on the path to self-improvement.
A good reading habit will help you reduce your daily stress, improve your memory, and even make you more creative. As it helps to ward off Alzheimer’s and dementia, reading will also enrich you spiritually and keep your mind healthy.
Whether you can read during breaks at work, on your commute, or even to your child at night, add in as much reading to your day as possible.
(If you’re looking for other ways to improve your memory, check out these memory games for adults.)
2. Have a growth mindset.
People who have a fixed mindset believe that you are born with your talents, and no matter how much you practice or try, you can only reach a certain level of achievement.
However, with a growth mindset, you believe that you can always continue to improve yourself. Never stop learning and educating yourself. Having a growth mindset will let you develop your abilities and intelligence with effort, learning, and persistence.
To learn more about this topic, this article lists specific things you can do to develop a growth mindset.
3. Meditate regularly.
People have been meditating for thousands of years to combat stress and anxiety. Meditation, and especially mindfulness meditation, allows you to have peace and clarity in the present moment of awareness.
There are many different ways to meditate, but all of the techniques revolve around cultivating awareness and expanding your consciousness.
The purpose of meditation depends on who is meditating, but anyone who meditates on a regular basis will benefit from it in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual ways.
It relieves stress and anxiety, decreases blood pressure, lowers cholesterol, helps the body use oxygen more efficiently, and improves sleep.
4. Visualize your success.
When you think about a big goal you have or an accomplishment that you want to pursue, it is normal to consider the obstacles that you will have to face.
The problem is, that we tend to let these obstacles overtake our dreams, and it ends up preventing us from making any progress. But instead of creating barriers, envision victory.
Literally, visualize what it would feel like to achieve your goals. What would it look like, who would be around, and what implications would it have for your future? If you can see yourself obtaining your goal, it will be easier to work toward that goal.
The process of making a vision board can force you to really think about what you want in life.
5. Align your priorities with your values and goals.
Your priorities are the things that are the most important and meaningful in your life at the present moment. If you want to improve yourself, you must make it something that you are not willing to compromise.
Examine your values and goals, and make sure you are doing what you can today to ultimately reach those goals. You won’t get anywhere without setting a goal and making sure that you have a plan in place.
6. Make good use of your time.
It is important to use your time wisely. If you find yourself with the luxury of having some free time, don’t waste it in front of the television. Instead, manage your time effectively so you can make proper headway toward your goals.
It is imperative to develop effective strategies to balance any conflicting demands on your time. Take some time each morning to determine your most important tasks for the day, and create a plan to ensure they get accomplished.
(If you want to make better use of your spare time, check out these creative hobbies you can take up.)
7. Measure your self improvement.
Measuring your progress is a vital part of achieving any goal. It can help you stay on track and keep you motivated to move forward, even when you touch on a rough spot.
Research has found that when a goal is coming from one’s own motivations rather than being put forth by another person, people are more likely to keep the necessary drive to achieve their goals.
The reason for doing process analysis and consistently looking at your improvement is to improve your performance in meaningful ways. Without keeping track of your progress, you may not even know if you are improving, and you won’t be able to tell which things are meaningful.
Are you delivering value to other people, both in your personal and professional life? The plethora of measures of internal achievement doesn’t say too much about the value that you are delivering. It is the process performance where you want to see constant improvements.
8. Learn new skills.
When you stop to consider the things that you do each day, you probably don’t think about taking the time to learn new skills. Living hectic lifestyles makes it seem daunting to learn new things, but you may be missing out personally and professionally.
Continuing to learn throughout our lives is essential for staying current in an ever-changing world. If you stop learning new skills, you may actually begin to move backward while the rest of the world is quickly moving forward.
Those who consistently succeed are those who are best at learning new skills. Try any one of these 101 new skills you can learn that can dramatically improve your personal and professional life.
9. Pick up a new course.
Is there any new course you can join? Courses are a great way to gain new knowledge and skills.
It doesn’t have to be a long-term course — seminars or workshops serve their purpose too.
I’ve been to a few workshops and they have helped me gain new insights which I had not considered before.
10. Create an inspirational room.
Your environment sets the mood and tone for you. If you are living in an inspirational environment, you are going to be inspired every day.
In the past, I didn’t like my room at all because I thought it was messy and dull. A few years ago, I decided this was the end of it — I started on a “Mega Room Revamp” project and overhauled my room.
The end result? A room I totally relish being in and inspires me to be at my peak every day.
11. Overcome your fears.
All of us have fears. Fear of uncertainty, fear of public speaking, fear of risk… All our fears keep us in the same position and prevent us from growing.
Recognize that your fears reflect areas where you can grow. I always think of fears as the compass for growth.
If I have a fear about something, it represents something I’ve yet to address, and addressing it helps me to grow.
12. Improve your skills.
If you have played video games before, especially RPGs, you’ll know the concept of leveling up — gaining experience so you can be better and stronger.
As a blogger, I’m constantly leveling up my writing skills. As a speaker, I’m constantly leveling up my public engagement abilities. What skills can you level up?
13. Wake up early.
Waking up early (say, 5–6am) has been acknowledged by many (Anthony Robbins, Robin Sharma, among other self-help gurus) to improve your productivity and your quality of life.
I feel it’s because when you wake up early, your mindset is already set to continue the momentum and proactively live out the day.
Not sure how to wake up early and feel energetic? Keep reading!
14. Have a weekly exercise routine.
A better you starts with being in better physical shape. I personally make it a point to jog at least 3 times a week, at least 30 minutes each time.
You may want to mix it up with jogging, gym lessons and swimming for variation.
15. Start your life handbook.
A life handbook is an idea I started 3 years ago.
Basically, it’s a book which contains the essentials on how you can live your life to the fullest, such as your purpose, your values and goals. Sort of like your manual for your life.
I started my life handbook since 2007 and it’s been a crucial enabler in my progress.
16. Write a letter to your future self.
What do you see yourself as 5 years from now? Will you be the same? Different? What kind of person will you be?
Write a letter to your future self — 1 year from now will be a good start — and seal it.
Make a date in your calendar to open it 1 year from now. Then start working to become the person you want to open that letter.
17. Get out of your comfort zone.
Real growth comes with hard work and sweat. Being too comfortable doesn’t help us grow, it makes us stagnate.
What is your comfort zone? Do you stay in most of the time? Do you keep to your own space when out with other people?
Shake your routine up. Do something different.
By exposing yourself to a new context, you’re literally growing as you learn to act in new circumstances.
18. Challenge someone.
Competition is one of the best ways to grow. Set a challenge (weight loss, exercise, financial challenge, etc) and compete with an interested friend to see who achieves the target first.
Through the process, both of you will gain more than if you were to set off on the target alone.
19. Stay focused with to-do lists.
I start my day with a list of tasks I want to complete and this helps make me stay focused. In comparison, the days when I don’t do this end up being extremely unproductive.
For example, part of my to-do list for today is to write a guest post at LifeHack.Org, and this is why I’m writing this now!
Since my work requires me to use my computer all the time, I use Free Sticky Notes to manage my to-do lists. It’s really simple to use and it’s a freeware, so I recommend you check it out.
20. Ask people for feedback.
As much as we try to improve, we will always have blind spots. Asking for feedback gives us an additional perspective.
Some people to approach will be friends, family, colleagues, boss, or even acquaintances, since they will have no preset bias and can give their feedback objectively.