If you’re someone who likes to grow as a person, who is constantly looking for new ways to improve themselves, then seeking out new opportunities for personal growth can help you develop the lifestyle you’ve always envisioned.
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There are many ways you can go about improving yourself; some can be vanity-based and take only a matter of minutes, while others can span over a couple of years, such as education and career progression.
Self-improvement needn’t be a large undertaking, though. There are many small steps you can take, which when engaged every day, can propel you forwards. Here are practical measures you can take each and everyday so that you can continue your journey towards human development.
Start a New Hobby
We are creatures of habit, and sometimes breaking free from the mold we’ve made for ourselves can be a far bigger undertaking than we first expect. While there’s nothing wrong with sticking to what works for us, trying something different could help you discover something about yourself you didn’t know before.
Think about your current hobbies and work from there. If you enjoy painting, signing up for a pottery class could be to your liking. If you play for the local football team, but have always wanted to try out tennis, see if some of your teammates would want to play a couple of tennis matches with you.
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Learn Something New
There’s a whole world out there, with plenty for you to learn from. Whether it’s about local history that’s on your doorstep or a foreign country you’ve always wished to visit, making it your mission to learn more about that particular culture could help you learn about different people, a part of a language or a section in history.
Read Every Day
Whether it’s a page, chapter or an entire book, making time to read every day can improve your concentration, offer wisdom and even improve your own reading and writing capabilities. The mental stimulation reading offers can help keep your brain supple, strong and healthy, and can even help slow down the effects of aging, such as a decline in memory.
Read Something Different
Again, we tend to stick to the books we’re familiar with, but the problem with never expanding your reading list is that you’re unable to find new genres or styles that you also enjoy. Start small: if you enjoy crime, then pick up a horror novel. If you enjoy dystopian young fiction, picking up a relatively easy sci-fi novel could help close the gap between something old and familiar, with something new and uncertain.
This is also applicable to other areas of reading, so if you tend to read fiction, pick up a non-fiction books instead, or try an essay, autobiography or anthology.
Improve Your Current Skills
Focusing on learning a new skill can bring new opportunities. However, you should never neglect the skills you currently possess. You have to continue coaching yourself if you wish to remain on top of your game, especially in areas such as language. Keep your current allotted time for the things you currently do, and anything new you wish to experience, work it around your current schedule. If you find that there’s something you prefer, then you can reshuffle your schedule later on.
Do Something Out of Your Comfort Zone
If it does not hurt or affect yourself or others, throw caution into the wind and try something you wouldn’t usually dare do. It can be as big or small as you please. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to dye your hair blonde or cut it short. If so, head to the hairdressers. The worst that could happen is that you grow your hair out or reverse the hair dye.
Additionally, you could go traveling solo, apply for a new job in a different field, or move house.Checking for hiring companies in Seattle, or any place away from your hometown may also help for you to grow. It is not enough that you are academically smart. You also need to be street smart. Bigger chances and lead to bigger risks, but it can pay out in the long-run.
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Return to Study
Returning to school can be a fruitful endeavor. Doing so can help you develop your current career, or it can help you move in a completely different direction. Or, if you’re an intellectual, opening up a textbook could be exactly what you need to give you a new lease on life. Financing your education can be costly, and if you’re a mature student who already has a degree, you may not be able to turn to the government for funding. If this is the case, then you take out a logbook loan, which involves you withdrawing cash from your car.
Refine Your Goals
Being ambitious has its perks; you want to get to the top of your career and have a strong determination to succeed in every venture you undertake. Being ambitious, though, can cause you to try and achieve too much all at once. You need to, therefore, be more selective in your goals and figure out which ones are more important to you. Small steps can be more manageable (and more successful) than huge leaps.
Ask yourself what it is you want to do more. Do you want to become a manager in your company? Do you want to be a published author? Is seeing the world your number one priority? Or do you want to settle down and have a family? While you can juggle more than one thing at once, you shouldn’t overload yourself.
Doing so can cause more stress than good, and can, in turn, make life less enjoyable.
Identify Your Blind Spots
Discovering the parts of yourself where there is room for improvement can help you become a more well-rounded person. The issue, however, is that these spots are blind for a reason. You can overcome your blind spots, though, by asking friends, family,and co-workers for ways you can improve. Your co-worker may highlight an issue at work, while your friends could help you with your personal life. Before asking for them to highlight issues you’re unaware of, be sure to wear your thick skin.