42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself

Are you someone who likes to grow? Do
you constantly seek to improve yourself and become better?

If
you do, then we have something in common. I’m very passionate about
personal growth. It was just 4 years ago when I discovered my passion
for growing and helping others grow. At that time, I was 22 and in my
final year of university. As I thought about the meaning of life, I
realized there was nothing more meaningful than to pursue a life of
development and betterment. It is through improving ourselves that we
get the most out of life.

After 1.5 years of actively pursuing
growth and helping others to grow through my personal development blog, I
realize there is never an end to the journey of self improvement. The
more I grow, the more I realize there is so much out there I don’t
know, so much that I have to learn. For sure, there is always
something about ourselves we can improve on. The human potential is
limitless, so it’s impossible to reach a point of no growth. Whenever we
think we are good, we can be even better.

As
a passionate advocate of growth, I’m continuously looking for ways to
self-improve. I’ve compiled 42 of my best tips which might be helpful in
your personal growth journey. Some of them are simple steps which you
can engage in immediately. Some are bigger steps which takes conscious
effort to act on. Here they are:

1. Read
   a book every day. Books are concentrated sources of
   wisdom. The more books you read, the more wisdom you expose yourself to.
   What are some books you can start reading to enrich yourself? Some
   books I’ve read and found useful are Think and Grow Rich, Who Moved My
   Cheese, 7 Habits, The Science of Getting Rich and Living the 80/20 Way.
   I’ve heard positive reviews for The Tipping Point, Outliers and The
   Difference Maker, so I’ll be checking them out soon.


2. Learn
   a new language. As a Singaporean Chinese, my main
   languages are English, Mandarin and Hokkien (a Chinese dialect). Out of
   interest, I took up language courses in the past few years such as
   Japanese and Bahasa Indonesian. I realized learning a language is a
   whole new skill altogether and the process of acquainting with a new
   language and culture is a totally a mind-opening experience.


3. Pick
   up a new hobby. Beyond just your usual favorite hobbies, is
   there something new you can pick up? Any new sport you can learn?
   Examples are fencing, golf, rock
   climbing, football, canoeing, or ice skating. Your new hobby can also be
   a recreational hobby. For example, pottery, Italian cooking, dancing,
   wine appreciation, web design, etc.  Learning something new requires you
   to stretch yourself in different aspects, whether physically, mentally
   or emotionally.


4. Take 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.


5. 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.


6. 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.


7. Level up 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?


8. 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. Seth recently
   wrote a
   waking up early series which you should check out to help cultivate
   this habit.


9. 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.


10. 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.


11. 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.


12. 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.


13. Put someone up to a challenge.
    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.


14. Identify
    your blind spots. Scientifically, blind spots refer to areas
    our eyes are not capable of seeing. In personal development terms, blind
    spots are things about ourselves we are unaware of. Discovering our
    blind spots help us discover our areas of improvement. One exercise I
    use to discover my blind spots is to identify all the
    things/events/people that trigger me in a day – trigger meaning making
    me feel annoyed/weird/affected. These represent my blind spots. It’s
    always fun to do the exercise because I discover new things about
    myself, even if I may already think I know my own blind spots (but then
    they wouldn’t be blind spots would they?). After that, I work on steps
    to address them.


15. Ask 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.


16. 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.


17. Set
    Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). I’m a big fan of
    setting BHAGs. BHAGs stretch you beyond your normal capacity since they
    are big and audacious – you wouldn’t think of attempting them normally.
    What are BHAGs you can embark on, which you’ll feel absolutely on top of
    the world once you complete them? Set them and start working on them.


18. Acknowledge
    your flaws. Everyone has flaws. What’s most important is to
    understand them, acknowledge them, and address them. What do you think
    are your flaws? What are the flaws you can work on now? How do you want
    to address them?


19. Get into action. The best way
    to learn and improve is to take action. What is something you have been
    meaning to do? How can you take action on it immediately? Waiting
    doesn’t get anything done. Taking action gives you immediate results to
    learn from.


20. Learn from people who inspire you.
    Think about people you admire. People who inspire you. These people
    reflect certain qualities you want to have for yourself too. What are
    the qualities in them you want to have for yourself? How can you acquire
    these qualities?


21. Quit a bad habit. Are there
    any bad habits you can lose? Oversleeping? Not exercising? Being late?
    Slouching? Nail biting? Smoking? Here’s some help on how
    you can quit a bad habit.


22. Cultivate
    a new habit. Some good new habits to cultivate include
    reading books (#1), waking up early (#8), exercising (#9), reading a new
    personal development article a day (#40) and meditating. Is there any
    other new habit you can cultivate to improve yourself?


23. Avoid
    negative people. As Jim Rohn says, “You are the average of the
    5 people you spend the most time with”. Wherever we go, there are bound
    to be negative people. Don’t spend too much of your time around them if
    you feel they drag you down.


24. Learn
    to deal with difficult people. There are times when there
    are difficult people you can’t avoid, such as at your workplace, or when
    the person is part of your inner circle of contacts. Learn how to deal
    with them. These people management skills will go a long way in working
    with people in the future.


25. Learn
    from your friends. Everyone has amazing qualities in them.
    It’s up to how we want to tap into them. With all the friends who
    surround you, they are going to have things you can learn from. Try
    thinking of a good friend right now. Think about just one quality they
    have which you want to adopt. How can you learn from them and adopt this
    skill for yourself? Speak to them if you need to – for sure, they will
    be more than happy to help!


26. Start a journal.
    Journaling is a great way to gain better self-awareness. It’s a
    self-reflection process. As you write, clarify your thought process and
    read what you wrote from a third person’s perspective, you gain more
    insights about yourself. Your journal can be private or an online blog. I
    use my personal development blog as a personal journal too and I’ve
    learned a lot about myself through the past year of blogging.


27. Start
    a blog about personal development. To help others grow, you
    need to first be walking the talk. There are expectations of you, both
    from yourself and from others, which you have to uphold. I run The
    Personal Excellence Blog, where I share my personal journey and insights
    on how to live a better life. Readers look toward my articles to
    improve themselves, which enforces to me that I need to keep improving,
    for myself and for the people I’m reaching out to.


28. Get a
    mentor or coach. There’s no faster way to improve than to have
    someone work with you on your goals. Many of my clients approach me to
    coach them in their goals and they achieve significantly more results
    than if they had worked alone.


29. Reduce the time you spend
    on chat programs. I realized having chat programs open at
    default result in a lot of wasted time. This time can be much better
    spent on other activities. The days when I don’t get on chat, I get a
    lot more done. I usually disable the auto start-up option in the chat
    programs and launch them when I do want to chat and really have the time
    for it.


30. Learn chess (or any strategy game). I
    found chess is a terrific game to learn strategy and
    hone your brainpower. Not only do you have fun, you also get to exercise
    your analytical skills. You can also learn strategy from other board
    games or computer games, such as Othello, Chinese Chess, WarCraft, and
    so on.


31. Stop
    watching TV. I’ve not been watching TV for pretty much 4
    years and it’s been a very liberating experience. I realized most of the
    programs and advertisements on mainstream TV are usually of a lower
    consciousness and not very empowering. In return, the time I’ve freed up
    from not watching TV is now constructively used for other purposes,
    such as connecting with close friends, doing work I enjoy, exercising,
    etc.


32. Start a 30-day challenge. Set a goal and
    give yourself 30 days to achieve this. Your goal can be to stick with a
    new habit or something you’ve always wanted to do but have not. 30 days
    is just enough time to strategize, plan, get into action, review and
    nail the goal.


33. Meditate.
    Meditation helps to calm you and be more conscious. I also realized
    that during the nights when I meditate (before I sleep), I need lesser
    sleep. The clutter clearing process is very liberating.


34. Join
    Toastmasters (Learn public speaking). Interestingly, public
    speaking is the #1 fear in the world, with #2 being death. After I
    started public speaking as a personal development speaker/trainer, I’ve
    learned a lot about how to communicate better, present myself and engage
    people. Toastmasters is an international organization that trains
    people in public speaking. Check out the
    Toastmaster clubs nearest to you here.


35. Befriend top
    people in their fields. These people have achieved their
    results because they have the right attitudes, skill sets and know-how.
    How better to learn than from the people who have been there and done
    that? Gain new insights from them on how you can improve and achieve the
    same results for yourself.


36. Let
    go of the past. Is there any grievance or unhappiness from
    the past which you have been holding on? If so, it’s time to let it go.
    Holding on to them prevents you from moving on and becoming a better
    person. Break away from the past, forgive yourself, and move on. Just
    recently, I finally moved on from a past heartbreak of 5 years ago. The
    effect was liberating and very empowering, and I have never been
    happier.


37. Start
    a business venture. Is there anything you have an interest
    in? Why not turn it into a venture and make money while learning at the
    same time? Starting a new venture requires you to be learn business
    management skills, develop business acumen and have a competitive edge.
    The process of starting and developing my personal development business
    has equipped me with many skills, such as self-discipline, leadership,
    organization and management.


38. Show
    kindness to people around you. You can never be too kind
    to someone. In fact, most of us don’t show enough kindness to people
    around us. Being kind helps us to cultivate other qualities such as
    compassion, patience, and love. As you get back to your day after
    reading this article later on, start exuding more kindness to the people
    around you, and see how they react. Not only that, notice how you feel
    as you behave kindly to others. Chances are, you will feel even better
    than yourself.


39. Reach out to the people who hate you.
    If you ever stand for something, you are going to get haters. It’s easy
    to hate the people who hate us. It’s much more challenging to love them
    back. Being able to forgive, let go and show love to these people
    requires magnanimity and an open heart. Is there anyone who dislikes or
    hates you in your life? If so, reach out to them. Show them love. Seek a
    resolution and get closure on past grievances. Even if they refuses to
    reciprocate, love them all the same. It’s much more liberating than to
    hate them back.


40. Take a break. Have you been
    working too hard? Self-improvement is also about recognizing our need to
    take a break to walk the longer mile ahead. You can’t be driving a car
    if it has no petrol. Take some time off for yourself every week. Relax,
    rejuvenate and charge yourself up for what’s up ahead.


41. Read
    at least 1 personal development article a day. Some of my
    readers make it a point to read at least one personal development
    article every day, which I think is a great habit. There are many
    terrific personal development blogs out there, some
    of which you can check here.


42. Commit to your
    personal growth. I can be writing list articles with 10 ways,
    25 ways, 42 ways or even 1,000 ways to improve yourself, but if you’ve
    no intention to commit to your personal growth, it doesn’t matter what I
    write. Nothing is going to get through. We are responsible for our
    personal growth – not anyone else. Not your mom, your dad, your friend,
    me or LifeHack. Make the decision to commit to your personal growth and
    embrace yourself to a life-long journey of growth and change. Kick off
    your growth by picking a few of the steps above and working on them. The
    results may not be immediate, but I promise you that as long as you
    keep to it, you’ll start seeing positive changes in yourself and your
    life.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this article or
anything about personal growth. Feel free to share your thoughts in a
comment below and I’ll get back to you! If you have any other
suggestions to add to the list, please share with us too!