Many a times I feel I am not living up to my expectations even though I am meeting the expectations, needs & demands of everyone else. I end up feeling like I am simply reacting and not chalking my own life’s journey.
At times we question our own self. What do we really want out of life? Is it about owning a successful business, getting promoted at work, having financial stability or beautiful relationship, loving family?
Irrespective of our gender, age, culture, preferences, we all are wired to want to “do better,” to be good in our personal/professional life. We all share these two goals to feel our life is worth living. And in pursuit of leading better life, this inborn trait looks as a desire for self-improvement. No matter what you’re pursuing, self-improvement is a vital part of your progress and happiness.
Relying on auto-pilot mode can be a recipe for unhappiness, this is the reason I prefer self-improvement as being a deliberate practice. For me self-improvement is a pathway to living a life with purpose because you are encouraged to be more deliberate and intentional with the choices, decisions and actions you take in order to achieve outcomes you want.
In my last blog I discussed why it’s important to embrace self-care. Today, let’s move to the next step. I will equip you with the awareness and expertise required to make long-lasting changes in your own life.
The most important aspect of any self-improvement makeover is to acknowledge that it starts with you. You are the best person who can take charge of this. On this beautiful road, there is no rush, remember, we are always work in progress and there is always a scope of improvement, moreover transformations do not happen overnight. They require us to take active steps, give this plan a priority and work towards achieving it. The best part is, even the goals and targets are to be defined by us.
The foremost step is to make to promise with yourself that yes, you will do it and work towards your plan. The seed is to be implanted in the mind right now. It all starts with the first foundation stone. A desire to improve, a mindset to transform is the biggest weapon to take us to the next step.
Find your purpose:
Purpose is the guiding light to every stage of self-improvement. We come across moments in our life, when we have to deliberately assess what we are, where we are and we have to start making conscious choice to push our lives in certain direction. Finding the goal or target is important to start and make sustainable efforts towards achieving them.
Identify your Philosophies
Each one of us is unique and so is our journey. We need to understand the fine print of pattern and curves of this beautiful journey so that we can sketch our self-improvement plan. We need to gradually make changes as desired, be it in our behavior or in our attitude to ensure lasting effects are built uplifting us. It may happen during our transformational journey that we may face setbacks; things may not go as we expect. Philosophies are reliable enough to reflect on before sketching your self-improvement plan.
Honor your strengths & weaknesses:
While journaling down your improvement plan, try to figure out your strengths and weaknesses. This will help shift the focus from finding shortcomings to identifying a new learning opportunity. Think for how strengths can complement the weaknesses and turn them around. Nailing them down in right approach will empower us to utilize best of available strength and use them to create new opportunities to overcome weaknesses. For example- many people have patience on professional front, but on the personal front they react easily.
Make the skeleton plan:
Making self-improvement plan is not as easy as it seems. We have to define the milestones to achieve and have to accept the setbacks making our learning continuous. It requires us to identify the area of improvement which may be physical, mental or financial fitness and to list the changes required for us to take.
Lastly, as we evolve our self-improvement plan evolves too. This plan is a living plan which lives with you. As you grow old, your priorities and thinking change. My self-improvement plan has changed too over the last couple of years. I am sure by taking these steps and course of action; you can create your self-improvement plan.
Let’s walk this journey to self-discovery together.