Build Your Personal Goals Around These Life-Changing Habits
Do you have a mental picture of who you want to be? I did for years but struggled to reach my full potential. Maybe you can relate to what I’m saying?
On the other hand, when I found and adopted the proper habits, my self-improvement journey began to take shape. Significant changes didn’t happen overnight. Yet, I steadily improved by adopting specific, simple, but effective habits.
Next, you will discover my favorite self-improvement tips and habits that will improve your life, too.
Disclosure: At no cost to you, I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
7 Self-Improvement Tips And Habits
1. Make An Honest Assessment Of Yourself
Self-improvement is a journey, and every journey has a starting point. So, take stock and honestly define your current state.
Some categories of your life to assess include the following:
- Health
- Family
- Career
- Business
- Relationships
- Education
- Finances
Related reading: 7 Types of Goals to Set in Life
2. Clearly Define What You Want Out Of Life
Every self-improvement journey also has a destination. So, it’s time to look forward and determine who you want to be and what you want to get out of life. Use the same categories from step number one.
Ask yourself and answer questions. For example,
- What is my ideal fitness level and weight?
- Will I have a family, and if so, how big will it be?
- What type of job do I want, and where will I work?
- How much money do I need to be happy and secure?
Your answers to these questions and others formulate the vision for your future. Your vision allows you to make plans, set goals, and focus on what you want to achieve. Most importantly, having a clear vision helps you filter out unimportant people and activities.
3. Eliminate Negative Thinking
Next, I encourage you to cultivate a positive mindset and eliminate negative thoughts.
Here are some suggestions on how to go about it.
Work on your strengths, not weaknesses. I have always liked the saying, “Play to your strengths.” Staying positive when engaging in activities you are not naturally good at is hard.
Thus, determine what you are good at. Then, become great at it. Spend your time where your talents lie. Doing so will create a positive mindset and the momentum to move forward in surprising ways.
Eliminate negative words and thoughts. Please change what you say and how you say it. Alter the ongoing dialogue going on in your head for the better.
For example, rather than saying. “I have so much to do today.” Instead, rephrase it to, “I have a lot of opportunities to tackle today.”
Surround yourself with successful, positive people. Avoid the Danny Downers and Negative Nancy’s of the world. People like that will hold you back from achieving your dreams.
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4. Craft And Create Your Success Story
My next self-improvement tip is to create your success story. If you have a limiting story, recraft it to a limitless one.
Here is an example of what I mean.
Let’s say we have a 50-year-old stay-at-home mom whose kids are grown and out of the house.
A limiting story sounds like this:
“I no longer have a purpose in life. I’ve been home raising the kids and have no skills anyone would want.”
On the other hand, this Mom could craft a limitless story as follows:
“I have raised my children to be successful adults and managed our household like a pro. My skills are so valuable that someone will surely want to hire me. And, allow me to contribute in a new and meaningful way.”
After you create your limitless story about your future, continually refine and improve it. Repeat it to yourself daily.
5. Build Your Confidence
Next, create a confident mindset to move forward. Doing so will build a strong foundation for achieving your limitless story.
Here are the ingredients to build confidence, gain strength, and pursue your dreams.
Courage. Change takes courage. Courage is the ability to step out and try something new. It requires getting out of one’s comfort zone.
Commitment. Fully commit to your future success and happiness. It’s impossible to achieve anything new and significant without a solid commitment.
Capabilities. Successful people obtain the capabilities and skills to achieve their goals. They seek the proper training, sound advice, and the best mentors.
Thus, your confidence grows from the courage to try, the commitment to never give up, and the capabilities to achieve.
6. Focus On What Is Working And Remove What Is Not
In self-improvement tip #3, I said to focus on your strengths rather than your weaknesses. But what about the other stuff and dirty work that needs to get done in your life?
I recommend handling the things you are not so good at in other, more productive ways. Doing so will allow you to be careful with your time and help you say no when appropriate.
So, for all these other necessary activities, do one of the following things:
- Eliminate it
- Automate it
- Outsource it
- Delegate it
- Replace it
7. Nurture And Protect Your Happiness
Finally, be happy. Think about and define what happiness means to you. Then, work toward achieving and protecting your happiness.
To do this,
Live in the moment. Do not dwell on the past nor fret about the future.
Eliminate overthinking. Do not get paralyzed by over-analysis. Decide, act, adapt, and refine yourself every day.
Focus on positive outcomes. Negative thoughts are not an option during your self-improvement journey.
Don’t obsess over specific outcomes. Go with the flow. Identify what is working and work with that. Be opportunistic.
Do not be afraid to fail. Failure isn’t fatal. It is part of having the courage to succeed.
Let go of grudges. Holding and obsessing over grudges is not a healthy habit. Let go and move on.
Don’t settle for good enough. Focus on what you are good at and emphasize becoming great at it. Just good enough is never an option.
Self-Improvement Habits: Wrap-Up And Resources
Okay. That’s today’s self-improvement tips in a nutshell.
Understand that you and I are creatures of habit. Proper habits allow us to persevere when life presents challenges. With each success, your resilience grows, and positive progress naturally follows.
Before you go, check out:
More Tips for Becoming A Better You
Most importantly, good luck no matter what you want out of life.
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Author Bio: Tom Scott founded the consulting and coaching firm Dividends Diversify, LLC. He leverages his expertise and decades of experience in goal setting, relocation assistance, and investing for long-term wealth to help clients reach their full potential.