Here are 25 plus practical ways to improve yourself.
No matter which age you are, you can always aim for self-improvement and personal growth.
When you are focused on your aims, your work, you have much fewer chances to be depressed or in a bad mood.
If you feel like stuck in a routine, boredom or procrastination, it can be exactly the time for a new challenge.
There is a famous TED Talk by Matt Cutts (Google engineer), who recommends you to try something new in 30 days.
Go for 30-day challenge!
Whenever we think we are good, we can be even better.
So, hopefully, these self-improvement ideas can help you to grow faster.
1. Gym
It may sound boring, but physical exercise is one of the best ways to improve your mental health. And obviously, physical health.
If you don’t like all those big machines, just start with simple fitness: cardio, work on abs, easy fitness exercises.
The gym can be a great way to find new connections and improve your social life.
2. Books
This seems to be the most common advice.
Not a lot of people read these days, giving prerogative to TV, Youtube or Netflix.
However, it is advised by so many successful people to read at least one book every month.
Doesn’t matter which category, either motivational book or business or tech, etc. Just go to Amazon, find the best sellers in your category and off you go!
Audible, Kindle – any way to consume books can significantly improve your views on the world.
Try something new for 30 days.
3. Start a business
Are you bored with your job, again and again?
Maybe try to unleash some entrepreneurial spirit!
Becoming an entrepreneur is a super challenging and risky aim, which however can also bring a massive upside.
4. Get a mentor or coach
Sometimes it is super hard to figure out an idea, business or any other project without a coach.
Most talented athletes in the world still need someone, who will look from the other angle and give advice and feedback.
It is super important to have that person in life.
By mentorship, it doesn’t always mean startup world, etc – sometimes you need e.g. love or relationship coach.
You can’t know everything.
5. Start a blog
By blogging, you can uncover so many new sides of yourself, which you didn’t know even existed.
Blogging doesn’t require advanced technical skills. And if you are a successful blogger – you earn A LOT of money.
There are many famous “mommy bloggers”, who earn 6-7 figures income just by blogging from home.
Learn to code
Coding is a quite difficult and complex area, but when you learn it and start solving other people’s problems – it is sooo much fun.
Coding is hard, but when you learn it and start solving other people’s problems with it – it is sooo much fun.
6. Become an Influencer
If you will ask kids what they want to do in life, many of them will answer either Youtuber, Gamer, Online Influencer, etc.
Try Instagram, Twitch, Youtube, whatever you like and where you can express your passion.
There are plenty of full-time Instagrammers who made it to a full-time career and a pretty lucrative one.
7. Become a Youtuber
For me personally, starting a Youtube channel brought a lot of learnings.
Maybe, it’s hard to become PewDiePie or MrBeast level of Youtuber, but in fact, being a Youtuber is an awesome self-improvement technique.
Just by posting videos of yourself speaking to the camera you can improve:
- public speaking
- learn how to organize your thoughts
- reduce shyness
- grow subscribers, network and maybe friends
- improve video editing skills
- of course, maybe earn money.
8. Start listening more
Majority of people just like to speak, very often quite loudly. While it is super important to self-present yourself, listening can bring much more value in the long term.
Try to find details in other people’s speeches, conversations. You can find so much wisdom and inspiration.
9. Meditation
There are plenty of apps, which can help you with meditation. Some of the most popular ones: Headspace, Calm.
Just 10-15 minutes of meditation per day could significantly improve your focus and productivity. You will procrastinate much less on work.
10. Yoga
Yoga is at the peak of its popularity right now.
Yoga helps to reduce stress and is especially popular in big megapolises.
Practicing Yoga is like combining gym with meditation.
11. Go to the mountains
I personally, really like mountaineering.
Climbing in the mountains can help you to visualize your goals and compare hiking in the mountains with hiking to your dreams.
12. Work on passive income
If you are happy with your job it can be a good idea to work on additional passive income streams.
There are plenty of opportunities online, where you can spend a few hours per day or some time on weekends (yes, it can be tough) – and reach $40K yearly income. Now, it won’t be easy and it will take time, maybe many years.
But, hey, if you want to challenge yourself and self-improve – here is an idea. 😀
13. Write a book
Why not uncover a hidden Hemingway?
Try to write 2000 words every day for 30 days. And don’t go to sleep, until you finish.
You never know, maybe there will be plenty of followers, even buyers for your book.
14. Learn a new language
If you know e.g. Spanish in the US, it significantly boosts the number of your opportunities.
And similarly with other languages.
If you are bored AF, try to learn a new language: Chinese, French, Spanish, Arabic, German, Norwegian 😅…
At least for your career, it can be a massive boost.
15. Go abroad
Moving to some other city or even country can be an ultimate life-changing experience.
During my studying, I always used the opportunity of international exchange programs, studying abroad, etc. For a lot of people, “Work and Travel” program opened America or Erasmus showed the world of European universities.
While traveling abroad, you can:
- learn new languages
- try new things
- massively grow an international network
- change views on the world
- see the world not from tv or mobile, but in reality
16. Wake up early
For me personally, waking up early can bring a significant boost to the whole day.
Especially, if you combine it with morning exercise.
Don’t be lazy, go to bed faster and get up just a bit earlier next morning. Your productivity will skyrocket.
Stop watching f***ing Netflix to 3 am. Try to wake up just a bit earlier the next day.
17. Overcome a fear
Everyone has some fears. It’s ok.
But, some fears can be particularly dangerous and damaging to you.
Overcoming fear is a major self-improvement challenge.
18. Take a new course
It is always a great idea to learn something new.
Learn not only something related to your career or hobby but all kinds of stuff.
There are plenty of sites – Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, TeamTreehouse, Mentorbox, etc – where you can find many courses in most different areas.
19. Get out of your comfort zone
Success can often be found outside of your comfort zone.
I like comfort, but if you only enjoy comfort, your self-improvement curve can go down.
Always try to challenge yourself.
20. Quit a bad habit
One of the most obvious ways of self-improvement is quitting a bad habit.
Are you a smoker or a drinker? Right now is the time to quit.
You will be impressed with how much more additional energy there will be.
21. Stop watching TV
Some of my friends and colleagues, who entirely quit watching TV for a month, reported a massive boost in productivity, motivation, focus and so on.
Stop wasting 3-5 hours every day on “Housewives from Atlanta” or “Breaking Bad”. There is so much more interesting and important stuff to do.
Cut your TV cable and you are off to the races.
22. Reduce the time you spend in messengers
For Millenials, chat and messenger tools are a massive distraction. Every day, hours are spent either in Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram and other apps.
While it’s a fantastic way of communication, try to limit the time in messengers and spend it more effectively.
23. Learn public speaking
Did you know that public speaking is by far #1 fear in the world?
It is also an indispensable skill for practically any career path.
If you ever reach some management position, you will need to give those presentations. So, why not to start practicing now?
24. Let go of the past
Doesn’t matter what happened a year, month or day ago. It’s in the past. Look forward, build your future.
25. Learn to “celebrate mistakes”
Former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt once famously said, that at Google “We celebrate mistakes”. Google or Alphabet still is one of the most successful companies in history.
Of course, mistakes can be super painful. But, if you will be afraid of mistakes – you hardly achieve anything. Mistakes are not only ok, they are a sign of your hustle and determination to achieve something.
Let go of the past. Instead, build your future.
To sum it up
Always. Keep. Going.
