Self-improvement is the point of any self-help program or guide. That’s really what self-help boils down to. The ways you can improve yourself and become better than the you of today. There are a lot of facets to self-improvement and different ways you can go around it.
Nowadays people are becoming more aware of the fact that self-improvement can really help their lives. They’re reading plenty of guides and books about self-improvement (like this one!) but they need to remember to practice what they read. Don’t just read this information; act on it!
Get Started
There is one simple technique that anyone can do to get started on their journey of self-improvement. It involves looking at the way people around you behave and comparing it to how you behave, and seeing which way you prefer. You can’t improve without knowing just what it is that you have to improve.
Pay Attention
Improving oneself begins at taking a look at the world around you. The next time you are out and about look at the people you see. Observe their behavior and see how they respond to the situations they find themselves in. This can be anywhere; from the supermarket, to the pub, to the bus, to just the streets you walk. You can learn a lot about people just by watching them be interviewed on TV and seeing how they respond to questions.
You especially need to pay attention to the small details. How do they use their voice? Their body language? How do they respond when they become angry, tired, or restless? Also pay attention to the opposite; how they treat you, and others, when they are calm and happy. It also helps to pay attention to how people respond and treat them, especially in response to the way they act. Anger begets anger, and calmness begets calmness.
Analyze and React
Now that you’ve seen how people behave it’s time to analyze it. Did you like what you saw? If not, then why? What about it was wrong? Now you need to analyze yourself. Do you behave the same way? You need to be really honest with yourself here.
You will undoubtedly notice that you do, indeed, share some of that negative behavior. When you catch a trait or behavior that you wish you didn’t have it’s important to affirm to yourself that you’re going to catch that behavior next time and avoid it in the future. An affirmation is just a promise to yourself that you will do something. The more you do this, the more likely you are to catch that behavior and not behave that way in the future.
It can also help to think about the situations where bad behavior is likely to happen. Visualize it in your head and ask yourself how you should actually behave in that situation. Act it out in your head and keep on doing it. That way, when the negative situation happens, you know how you should behave. You may even do it automatically without thinking.
Do The Opposite
As well as looking at behaviors you want to avoid, it’s also important to take note of the behaviors you wish to emulate. If you think someone did a much better job of responding to criticism than you, for example, then analyze how they behaved and work to act that way too.
Like before, it helps to act it out in your head. Compare how they reacted to how you did and visualize yourself behaving like that instead. If you do it enough you can reinforce the positive behavior as well as squash out the negative behavior. Focusing on the positives is just as important as taking out the negatives.
It’s important to not be discouraged if things don’t work how you want to. You can teach an old dog new tricks but it takes time. Changing behaviors isn’t easy. Just make sure that you don’t get too down and that you don’t stop affirming, visualising, and forming changes in your habits. If you stop trying then nothing will ever be done. Self-improvement isn’t difficult; it just takes time.