How To Make The Best Self Improvements Starts Inside You
We all want to be our best selves. There are some simple changes one can make that do work, through consistency and determination, if you don’t think you’re there yet.
Are You The Best Version Of Yourself?
What’s holding you back? Bad habits? We all have them. The hard part is acknowledging them and then saying goodbye to the habits that weigh you down like an anchor.
There are terabytes of articles and tons of paper dedicated to self-improvement. It’s because we are flawed, imperfect creatures. Improving yourself won’t make you perfect. No, it’s not an achievable destination.
Improving yourself is about recognizing the hindrances in your routine and choosing to let them go. To do that successfully, you must be serious about self-improvement. There are commonly identified habits holding people back, and you can choose to let them go while looking at your other habits.
1. Stop Ignoring Self-Care
How do you think you’re doing? Do you get the right amount of sleep, or do you let life short change a critical part of your wellness requirements?
I ran myself ragged on behalf of my bosses and did so for years. Double shifts, sometimes back to back, and under incredibly stressful conditions. Constantly being on the go, rarely eating right, and never getting more than three or four hours of sleep at a time, I was destined to burn out.
I ignored the signs of burnout until a boss looked me in the face and lied to me. It was the final straw, and the camel's back snapped.
Self-care is critical because, at the end of the day, we all want to be of service. Whether it’s to our families, friends, employers, or our perceived purpose, if we fail to care for ourselves, we can end up not worth anything to ourselves or anyone else.
2. Stop Self Doubt and Self Sabotage
Are you your worst enemy? Is it that voice in your head? Sometimes you are your biggest fan, pushing yourself to go on when things get tough. Other times, you’re your own worst enemy, overly criticizing yourself and filling your head full of doubts about your potential and worth.
Focusing too much on the negatives, especially when your inner voice jumps on the bandwagon, can slow, and even stop, your personal growth. Instead of believing that it’s possible, that you can do anything you set your mind to, you allowed a mindset to grow that keeps you stuck in a cycle that keeps you from reaching your full potential.
Self-sabotaging is something you can change. Start by being aware of your thoughts. Work on eliminating the words can’t, won’t, and impossible. Replace negative thoughts with positive affirmations.
3. Stop Seeking Perfection
Those that seek perfection never find it, and remain unsatisfied. To strive for excellence is admirable. To obsess over every minor detail as you seek perfection is borderline insanity.
It may seem like seeking perfectionism drives a person to be their best, but it can lead to heightened stress, burnout, and even slow progress.
One consistent fact is nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes. Focus on learning from those mistakes and keep moving forward. With each bit of progress, you make strides toward achieving your goals and success.
4. Stop Being Self Imprisoned In The Past
Life is an adventure, a journey, and a story. It comes with ups and downs, wins and losses, and tragedy. Sometimes, you or someone you know may experience an event or situation that has such a profound impact on life it makes it difficult to move on.
When we hold onto the past it can prevent us from living. We have to learn to live in the present, work towards a better tomorrow, and not be stuck in those moments in time that have long passed. A haunted life is one thing, but allowing ghosts to influence our present is detrimental to our future.
Letting go of the past isn’t about forgetting what happened. It’s about taking control of how your life moves forward. We can’t change what happened, but we can embrace the present and look forward to the future. Allow yourself to grow and escape the prison of the past.
5. What Are You Waiting For?
Have you ever heard the saying, “Don’t wait until tomorrow to do what can be done today?”
Improving your life isn’t something that can be indefinitely postponed. Sure, we’re all guilty of procrastination at times. It’s not a habit that gets us anywhere.
Putting off tasks that we should be focusing on now causes us to scramble at the last minute when unforeseen circumstances come into play. How many times have you put something off, and then got sidetracked by emergencies, interruptions, and distractions?
If we truly want to get better, we must get out of our comfort zones that hinder us from getting better. That’s the problem with procrastination. Procrastination is one habit that should be first on your list of habits to rid yourself of if you’re trying to improve your life.
6. Embracing Failures and Mistakes
We all have heard J.K. Rowling’s story by now. What about the mistakes and failures of others? People who embrace their failures, accept their mistakes or don’t fear failing often achieve more success than one may think possible.
Fear of failing is an anchor holding people back when trying to improve themselves. The fear of failure becomes an extra weight we have to carry.
Failing, however, is a building block to success. Since nobody is perfect, failure is where we learn, grow, and become better. Say goodbye to the fear of failure and start looking at it as one more step toward your best self.
7. Stop Comparing Yourself To Other People
Envy is one of the seven deadly sins. Yet, we live in a world where those that have the most are envied by those that don’t. The rich are glamorized and worshipped. It is because they make the rest of the world feel behind.
Comparison to others is a bad habit that can rob you of your focus. Losing your self-confidence because you compare yourself to others in better positions than you will slow your growth and development.
We all have our purpose in life. All things, including our successes, come when the time is right. Not everybody is meant to be Elon Musk or Donald Trump.
Comparing ourselves to others is a waste of time for one good reason. When you’re comparing yourself to someone else, in writers' cases, say J.K. Rowlings, you’re forgetting that you’re not meant to be the next J.K. Rowlings. You’re meant to be the first and greatest you.
Takeaways
We are on an impossible journey toward our best selves…and lives.
Before we can reach our best lives, we have to successfully reach our potential. That means we have to learn and grow. Growth will take us through blunders, mistakes, and bad judgment.
We can’t fear living, and we can’t fear mistakes. Once we are trapped in a cycle of fear we aren’t able to grow, and we won’t move forward.
Our mistakes will stick with us. That’s fine. But, we must work to leave our mistakes in the past. Everybody has a history, and history can be a special place in our hearts or a source of pain. The effect of history on us can imprison us. Try looking at the past like Las Vegas.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
— Unknown
Leave the events of the past in the past, like those acts of bad judgment people make in Las Vegas.
On a serious note, there is no time like the present. We all put things off, but self-improvement isn’t something that can be postponed indefinitely. I’m no expert, but family and friends will attest that I waited until I was 47 before admitting I needed to start working on myself.
If your life doesn’t feel successful enough, like you’ve enough, don’t compare yourself to other more successful people. Instead, open your eyes. Remember, that every day is yours to do with as you want. Start your self-improvement journey…today, not tomorrow. Instead of comparing yourself to others, which is an act of self-sabotage, look at what you have done. We all have small successes.
Let go of self-doubt and have a little faith in yourself. Become your biggest fan and reaffirm that you can do anything if you set your mind to it, and then define anything. If Robert Downey Jr. can go to prison and then become one of the highest-paid actors of the 21st century, what’s holding you back from achieving your next milestone?
Note: I know I use RDJ and a few others as examples on a repetitive basis. But, this is still America, no matter how messed up it might be these days, and there are still comeback stories and longshots that pan out because people are willing to adopt a never-say-die attitude.
Finally, for a really good, easy-to-follow, self-improvement book I’d recommend Atomic Habits. It is a transformative book that even the most die-hard males can follow and is capable of helping to encourage the small incremental changes that can lead to huge differences in a person’s routines. It’s our routines that help develop discipline and consistency, two keys to being the best we can be. It helps to get the workbook, and based on my changes this past year, and my son’s stellar changes, it’s worth reading or giving to someone you know who needs a little encouragement.
Like I said earlier, I’m no expert on the subject. I’m simply someone who is on a journey of self-discovery and what I hope is improvement. Over the past four years, I’ve made many improvements in my life, my approach to people, and how I deal with conflicts or problems. If something that’s worked for me helps someone else, then it’s worth sharing.
There are affiliate links included in this article. As an Amazon Affiliate, purchases through these links help me earn commissions but your price isn’t affected.