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 isso
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 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.
such a wonderful article inspiring indeed,you are such an eye opener for people like me.keep up you are doing a wonderful thing
ReplyDeletemay god bless you and all your ideas