Better You Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Self Improvement’

Do you feel stuck in your life? Has the world suddenly seemed to have closed in around you? In addition, are you are doing the same thing day in, day out? If this sounds like your life then you are probably stuck in a rut, with what seems to be no way out.

Being stuck in a rut can drag you down, make you feel depressed, or as if life is something you just go through but have long since stopped enjoying. You become this way slowly without even realizing it, until one day you wonder what happened and when.

For many of us our daily life is governed by some form of routine which we cannot avoid, for example going to work 8 hours a day, taking the kids to school each morning, this is daily life and routine which for the most part cannot be changed. Another reason behind routine is the safety barrier; we get comfortable with our lives and feel secure in them, so why change?

However, sometimes routine can start to get us down, leave us with a feeling of dissociation and start causing problems in relationships, work and daily life in general, we gradually become unhappy. This is when a change is needed; this is the time to dig yourself out of the hole you have put yourself in and start enjoying life again.

Here are some tips to help you begin to take back control over you life and get out of the rut:

• Do at least one thing everyday that is different to your normal routine, this could be something as simple as taking a short break and going for a walk, sitting down to read a chapter of a book or any other hobby or pastime you once enjoyed.
• Take up a new hobby, make sure that you give yourself some times throughout the day to just enjoy something you like doing. Shake up meal times by having something different, you can either try a different recipe or order different take out, try foods from different cultures.
• Get out and meet new people, there are many ways you can achieve this, join a gym, club or attend a self-improvement class or hobby class.
• Drive a different way to work or if possible walk or start bicycling, not only will this break the rut you are in but also get you fitter.
• Take up a new sport; there are many types of sport with something for the fitter to the more moderate forms of exercise.
• Do something each day that is totally out of character for you, start off with small changes and work your way up to bigger ones.
• If you are stuck at home with children then change your routine throughout the day, don’t always do the same chore at the same time, shake up the way you do your housework.
• Make small changes around the home or work area.
• De-clutter your home or work area; it is surprising how being surrounded by clutter can get you down.

• How To Develop An Amazing Self-confidence Lack of confidence can paralyze your life. It can prevent you from doing great things just because you do not believe in yourself and can turn you into your own enemy. Lack of confidence does not only have a devastating effect on your mind but is also responsible for the......
• Why You Didn't Get Hired? Many people annually go through job interviews with no success. The reasons are varied; sometimes the competition is really tough; perhaps they had already hired someone internally; or maybe you didn’t take enough time to prepare for the interview. Many people fail to realize how important a job interview is.......
• Positive Living Tips It is rather simple to separate the positive from the negative. However, it can be quite difficult to stop yourself from running to the negative. This is simple human nature. It is something we are programmed to do. Do not feel bad about this natural inclination. Instead, choose to do......
• Get Over Depression:Just Don't Bother Me! There are various forms of depression, some of them are mild and some of them can be very severe and even border onsuicidal thoughts. Mild depression can take different forms like overeating or not wanting to meet people or friends, whereas Major depression can put a hold on one’s life......
• Alternative self confidence techniques Self-confidence plays an important role in every individual’s life. It is a key to success and can earn respect and appreciation. Confidence is a feeling of trust to believe in your own potentials and abilities. It is what it takes to accomplish a task successfully. Fearing things around you will......

• Extra Storage Space in the Home If there is one problem that just about everyone has, it is the issue of having too much stuff—and not enough room in which to store it.  Ask nearly any homeowner and she will likely tell you that her home does not have enough storage space.  Regardless of how large......
• Work At Home - Online Marketing Business Opportunities Are Boundless! Why do you want a genuine work form home online opportunity? Most people's reply to this is to spend time with family, have more freedom and live the life they wish to, rather than be strapped to a 9-5 soul siphon. So is it possible to locate one of these......
• The planet opens it's arms to "Hart of Green" launching on Cinco De Mayo My name is Jerry D. Hart. I live in Concord, CA with my sweet companion, King Kahluah, a 55 pound 12 year old Shepard, Doberman mix. The attention I command of his time is unreal. I am Green as of today, 5.5.2009 on my birthday turning 42 and turning Green......
• Make Money On The Internet? - An Useful Discourse On Paths To Make Money On The Internet There are scores of means you can make money online, many are better than others, and obviously some will fetch you a small amount of money, some will earn you a lot of cash, and then there are also scores of choices in 'tween. I personally have been operational and......
• Why didn't I figure it out sooner? Have you ever had the experience yourself or seen someone else who has a major AHA! moment. Instead of being grateful that they have finally "gotten" it, they immediately start going down the "Why didn't I figure it out sooner?" road. They are suddenly filled with remorse, guilt, self-anger or......

When we look at a certain object, a painting for example – we won’t be able to appreciate what’s in it, what is painted and what else goes with it if the painting is just an inch away from our face. But if we try to take it a little further, we’ll have a clearer vision of the whole artwork.

We reach a point in our life when we are ready for change and a whole bunch of information that will help us unlock our self-improvement power. Until then, something can be staring us right under our nose but we don’t see it. The only time we think of unlocking our self-improvement power is when everything got worst.

Take the frog principle for example:

Try placing Frog A in a pot of boiling water. What happens? He twerps! He jumps off! Why? Because he is not able to tolerate sudden change in his environment – the water’s temperature. Then try Frog B: place him in a lukewarm water, then turn the gas stove on. Wait until the water reaches a certain boiling point. Frog B then thinks “Ooh… it’s a bit warm in here”.

People are like Frog B in general. Today, Anna thinks Carl hates her. Tomorrow, Patrick walks up to her and told her he hates her. Anna stays the same and doesn’t mind her what her friends says. The next day, she learned that Kim and John also abhors her. Anna doesn’t realize at once the importance and the need for self-improvement until the entire community hates her.

We learn our lessons when we experience pain. We finally see the warning signs and signals when things get rough and tough. When do we realize that we need to change diets? When none of our jeans and shirts would fit us. When do we stop eating candies and chocolates? When all of our teeth has fallen off. When do we realize that we need to stop smoking? When our lungs have gone bad. When do we pray and ask for help? When we realize that we’re gonna die tomorrow.

The only time most of us ever learn about unlocking our self-improvement power is when the whole world is crashing and falling apart. We think and feel this way because it is not easy to change. But change becomes more painful when we ignore it.

Change will happen, like it or hate it. At one point or another, we are all going to experience different turning points in our life – and we are all going to eventually unlock our self-improvement power not because the world says so, not because our friends are nagging us, but because we realized its for our own good.

Happy people don’t just accept change, they embrace it! Now, you don’t have to feel a tremendous heat before realizing the need for self-improvement. Unlocking your self-improvement power means unlocking yourself up in the cage of thought that “its just the way I am”. It is such a poor excuse for people who fear and resist change. Most of us program our minds like computers.

Jen repeatedly tells everyone that she doesn’t have the guts to be around groups of people. She heard her mom, her dad, her sister, her teacher tell the same things about her to other people. Over the years, that is what Jen believes. She believes its her story. And what happens? Every time a great crowd would troop over their house, in school, and in the community – she tends to step back, shy away and lock herself up in a room. Jen didn’t only believed in her story, she lived it.

Jen has to realize that she is not what she is in her story. Instead of having her story post around her face for everyone to remember, she has to have the spirit and show people “I am an important person and I should be treated accordingly!”

Self-improvement may not be everybody’s favorite word, but if we look at things in a different point of view, we might have greater chances of enjoying the whole process instead of counting the days until we are fully improved. Three sessions in a week at the gym would result to a healthier life, reading books instead of looking at porns will shape up a more profound knowledge, going out with friends and peers will help you take a step back from work and unwind. And just when you are enjoying the whole process of unlocking your self-improvement power, you’ll realize that you’re beginning to take things light and become happy.

Now for the…

• Self esteem improvement Be determined to improve your self esteem and you are on your way to great achievement. Do not let a low self esteem ruin your life. The way you think about yourself determines how you interact with others. What are some examples of low esteem aspects in you mind that......
• Ten Ways To Change Your Life TODAY: Part 6 #6 Make a mistake Too often, you can start to believe that making changes in your life means that you have to be perfect. However, logically, you know that no one is perfect, even if they seem to be. Perfection has become a burden that we have placed on ourselves;......
• MOTIVATION, The Heart OF Self Improvement Pain may sometimes be the reason why people change. Getting flunked grades make us realize that we need to study. Debts remind us of our inability to look for a source of income. Being humiliated gives us the "push" to speak up and fight for ourselves to save our face......
• Find Your Confidence: Forget about your fears Many of us fear rejection or failure even before we attempt to try. Failure is a part of life and one must experience it at least once. However, to fear will only take you away from success. In this competitive world, it is essential for one to overcome their fears......
• Crash Course 7-Day Program to Self-Improvement I seem to lost count on how many times I've read and heard of celebrity marriages failing almost left and right. Not that I care (and personally I don't), it seems strange that we often see movie and TV stars as flawless people, living the fairytale life of riches and......

• Review: Unstuff Your Life!: Kick the Clutter Habit and Completely Organize Your Life for Good There are few books which come along in life which will combine the ability to work on your psychological needs as well as your annoying habits at the same time. There are other books out there which claim that they will help to get you more organized, but they all......
• Self Improvement for Financial Improvement There are two ways to improve personal finances:  spend less or earn more. If only life were that simple. In the current economic environment, earning more is not an option for many. Indeed, earning less is a prospect being faced by those who had previously considered themselves to be in secure......
• Is Self Improvement Getting You Down? Image by Mel B. via Flickr There's a dark side to the self-improvement industry. If you're into any form of self-improvement (self-help, personal-development, personal-empowerment, etc.), there's a good chance that you've been affected by it. What is it? Working on improving yourself can actually affect your self-esteem in a......
• Using a Home Improvement Company for Best Results The best thing that you can do with a home improvement company is actually use their expertise. This is something that many people are afraid of doing because they fear that they might get sucked into paying an extra amount of money for the services of a company. This would......
• The Pros and Cons of Universal Health Care in the United States  This is a follow-up to my series last year, Universal Healthcare Week.  My posts on the pros and cons of a universal health care system continue to be popular pages on Weakonomics so I thought I'd touch on the subject again.  For a quick refresh, universal health care is a......

Pain may sometimes be the reason why people change. Getting flunked grades make us realize that we need to study. Debts remind us of our inability to look for a source of income. Being humiliated gives us the ‘push’ to speak up and fight for ourselves to save our face from the next embarrassments. It may be a bitter experience, a friend’s tragic story, a great movie, or an inspiring book that will help us get up and get just the right amount of motivation we need in order to improve ourselves.

With the countless negativities the world brings about, how do we keep motivated? Try on the tips I prepared from A to Z!

A. Achieve your dreams. Avoid negative people, things and places. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

B. Believe in your self, and in what you can do.

C. Consider things on every angle and aspect. Motivation comes from determination. To be able to understand life, you should feel the sun from both sides.

D. Don’t give in and don’t give up. Thomas Edison failed once, twice, more than thrice before he came up with his invention and perfected the incandescent light bulb. Make motivation as your steering wheel.

E. Enjoy. Work as if you don’t need money. Dance as if nobody’s watching. Love as if you never cried. Learn as if you’ll live forever. Motivation takes place when people are happy.

F. Family and Friends – are life’s greatest ‘F’ treasures. Don’t loose sight of them.

G. Give more than what is enough. Where does motivation and self-improvement take place at work? At home? At school? When you exert extra effort in doing things.

H. Hang on to your dreams. They may dangle in there for a moment, but these little stars will be your driving force.

I. Ignore those who try to destroy you. Don’t let other people to get the best of you. Stay out of toxic people – the kind of friends who hates to hear about your success.

J. Just be yourself. The key to success is to be yourself. And the key to failure is to try to please everyone.

K. Keep trying no matter how hard life may seem. When a person is motivated, eventually he sees a harsh life finally clearing out, paving the way to self-improvement.

L. Learn to love your self. Now isn’t that easy?

M. Make things happen. Motivation is when your dreams are put into work clothes.

N. Never lie, cheat or steal. Always play a fair game.

O. Open your eyes. People should learn the horse attitude and horse sense. They see things in 2 ways – how they want things to be, and how they should be.

P. Practice makes perfect. Practice is about motivation. It lets us learn repertoire and ways on how can we recover from our mistakes.

Q. Quitters never win. And winners never quit. So, choose your fate – are you going to be a quitter? Or a winner?

R. Ready yourself. Motivation is also about preparation. We must hear the little voice within us telling us to get started before others will get on their feet and try to push us around. Remember, it wasn’t raining when Noah build the ark.

S. Stop procrastinating!

T. Take control of your life. Discipline or self control jives synonymously with motivation. Both are key factors in self-improvement.

U. Understand others. If you know very well how to talk, you should also learn how to listen. Yearn to understand first, and to be understood the second.

V. Visualize it. Motivation without vision is like a boat on a dry land.

W. Want it more than anything. Dreaming means believing. And to believe is something that is rooted out from the roots of motivation and self-improvement.

X. X Factor is what will make you different from the others. When you are motivated, you tend to put on “extras” on your life like extra time for family, extra help at work, extra care for friends, and so on.

Y. You are unique. No one in this world looks, acts, or talks like you. Value your life and existence, because you’re just going to spend it once.

Z. Zero in on your dreams and go for it!!!

• Self Improvement HandBook Everything that happens to us happens in purpose. And sometimes, one thing leads to another. Instead of locking yourself up in your cage of fears and crying over past heartaches, embarrassment and failures, treat them as your teachers and they will become your tools in both self-improvement and success. Remember......
• Enjoy Your Life: Change Your Point of View "Two men look out through the same bars: One sees the mud, and one sees the stars."- Frederick Langbridge, A Cluster of Quiet Thoughts If you've placed second in a writing contest, will you jump for joy and push for better results the next time or will you be discouraged......
• The habits of confident people When you are in awe of a confident person what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Of course their habits, which make them stand apart from the others. Wondering what can be the extraordinary habits of confident people? At the outset, confident people are open to any......
• Unlocking Your Self Improvement Power When we look at a certain object, a painting for example – we won’t be able to appreciate what’s in it, what is painted and what else goes with it if the painting is just an inch away from our face. But if we try to take it a little......
• Focus on your mental and emotional side to gain self improvement Not everyone believes this but the emotional and mental aspects of a person, when combined, leads to better self improvement. Emotions love to dominate our actions and reactions, even though we do not want it to happen sometimes. The society often see emotions as a sign of weakness, so people......

• Should You Consider Guided Hunts? Guided hunts are a unique way to become familiar with hunting whether you plan on hunting deer, quail or big-game. Various outfitters offer guided hunts and many people take advantage of those each year. There is an impression in the hunting community that guided hunts are somehow less real or......
• Self Improvement Through Self Defense When people think of "self-improvement", they normally think physical: new hairstyle, trim waist, killer abs, toned muscles, breast implants, etc. Rarely, is any thought ever given to their safety - whether they are physically or mentally prepared to defend themselves and/or their families, especially for women. Taking the necessary steps......
• About Me Purpose To help bring about a better world through combining marketing, product development, and efficient business practice. Values Individuality. Liberty. Health. Creativity. Happiness. Love. Children. Adventure. Personal Development. Learning. Objectives To work on different marketing projects worldwide, traveling every so often, exploring the world as I contribute as much as......
• The Flaws of the Self-Made Man America is a young country.  Compared to the long histories of European countries like France, Germany, and Greece, we're barely teens.  Like these older countries, we've created a national mythos that helps define who we are and what we believe.  Images of the patriots in the  Revolutionary War, cowboys in......
• The Secret to Getting Out of Debt: Forget Snowballs and Interest Rates I was in debt for nearly ten years, and for ten years I tried every debt elimination method known to mankind. I was like the overweight person who has tried every diet, but years later finds themselves more overweight than when they started. The last two years of my personal......

So how do you stay calm, composed and maintain self-esteem in a tough environment? Here are some tips you may to consider as a starter guide to self-improvement.

Imagine yourself as a Dart Board. Everything and everyone else around you may become Dart Pins, at one point or another. These dart pins will destroy your self-esteem and pull you down in ways you won’t even remember. Don’t let them destroy you, or get the best of you. So which dart pins should you avoid?

Dart Pin #1 : Negative Work Environment

Beware of “dog eat dog” theory where everyone else is fighting just to get ahead. This is where non-appreciative people usually thrive. No one will appreciate your contributions even if you miss lunch and dinner, and stay up late. Most of the time you get to work too much without getting help from people concerned. Stay out of this, it will ruin your self-esteem. Competition is at stake anywhere. Be healthy enough to compete, but in a healthy competition that is.

Dart Pin #2: Other People’s Behavior

Bulldozers, brown nosers, gossipmongers, whiners, backstabbers, snipers, people walking wounded, controllers, naggers, complainers, exploders, patronizers, sluffers… all these kinds of people will pose bad vibes for your self-esteem, as well as to your self-improvement scheme.

Dart Pin #3: Changing Environment

You can’t be a green bug on a brown field. Changes challenge our paradigms. It tests our flexibility, adaptability and alters the way we think. Changes will make life difficult for awhile, it may cause stress but it will help us find ways to improve our selves. Change will be there forever, we must be susceptible to it.

Dart Pin #4: Past Experience

It’s okay to cry and say “ouch!” when we experience pain. But don’t let pain transform itself into fear. It might grab you by the tail and swing you around. Treat each failure and mistake as a lesson.

Dart Pin #5: Negative World View

Look at what you’re looking at. Don’t wrap yourself up with all the negativities of the world. In building self-esteem, we must learn how to make the best out of worst situations.

Dart Pin #6: Determination Theory

The way you are and your behavioral traits is said to be a mixed end product of your inherited traits (genetics), your upbringing (psychic), and your environmental surroundings such as your spouse, the company, the economy or your circle of friends. You have your own identity. If your father is a failure, it doesn’t mean you have to be a failure too. Learn from other people’s experience, so you’ll never have to encounter the same mistakes.

Sometimes, you may want to wonder if some people are born leaders or positive thinkers. NO. Being positive, and staying positive is a choice. Building self-esteem and drawing lines for self-improvement is a choice, not a rule or a talent. God wouldn’t come down from heaven and tell you – “George, you may now have the permission to build self-esteem and improve your self.” 

In life, it’s hard to stay tough specially when things and people around you keep pulling you down. When we get to the battlefield, we should choose the right luggage to bring and armors to use, and pick those that are bullet proof. Life’s options give us arrays of more options. Along the battle, we will get hit and bruised. And wearing a bulletproof armor ideally means ‘self change’. The kind of change which comes from within. Voluntarily. Armor or Self Change changes 3 things: our attitude, our behavior and our way of thinking.

Building self-esteem will eventually lead to self-improvement if we start to become responsible for who we are, what we have and what we do. Its like a flame that should gradually spread like a brush fire from inside and out. When we develop self-esteem, we take control of our mission, values and discipline. Self-esteem brings about self-improvement, true assessment, and determination. So how do you start putting up the building blocks of self-esteem? Be positive. Be contented and happy. Be appreciative. Never miss an opportunity to compliment. A positive way of living will help you build self-esteem, your starter guide to self-improvement.

• The Importance of Improving Yourself Sometimes, when all our doubts, fears and insecurities wrap ourselves up, we always come up with the idea of “I wish I was somebody else.” More often than not, we think and believe that someone or rather, most people are better than us - when in reality, the fact is,......
• Find Your Confidence: Your sex appeal Sex appeal can make you stand out of the crowd and come across as the most happening person around. Confidence plays an important role in the dating game as well as otherwise. A person who can carry himself smartly is the one who is impressive and looked upon. You need......
• Build Your Self Esteem So how do you stay calm, composed and maintain self esteem in a tough environment? Here are some tips you may to consider as a starter guide to self improvement. Imagine yourself as a Dart Board. Everything and everyone else around you may become Dart Pins, at one point or......
• Focus on your mental and emotional side to gain self improvement Not everyone believes this but the emotional and mental aspects of a person, when combined, leads to better self improvement. Emotions love to dominate our actions and reactions, even though we do not want it to happen sometimes. The society often see emotions as a sign of weakness, so people......
• Crash Course 7-Day Program to Self-Improvement I seem to lost count on how many times I've read and heard of celebrity marriages failing almost left and right. Not that I care (and personally I don't), it seems strange that we often see movie and TV stars as flawless people, living the fairytale life of riches and......

• Mass Hiring Is Going On Right Now In Every Field... Heres How You Can Apply Hello I'm not going to pump your hopes with some unrealistic fantasy... I am here to tell you about the reality... There is a mass hiring that is going on... Over 300 firms are doing it. I’m a provider and what that means is that it’s my job to help......
• How to Make Deer Hunting Videos If you've ever thought of making your own deer hunting videos but wondered who would want to watch them, you should consider the enjoyment you'll get from making them. You may be surprised at who would enjoy watching your videos. But even if no one did, you would have the......
• Improve Your Blog Functionality You can improve your blog functionality in order to improve your traffic, readership and the number of people that comment on your blog posts. When you improve your blog functionality, it can have a profound impact on the capabilities of your blog. Here are some tips to improve your blog......
• Adsense Alternatives For Your Web Site To Generate Income Numerous people have started using Google's AdSense program, but you can find some who find it a bit too uncertain or merely not suiting their personal requirements from an advert program. But thankfully for such people, there are many alternatives to AdSense which attempt to alleviate some of its shortcomings.......
• Don't Bother Setting Goals Don't bother setting goals. It's a waste of time. Let me explain why I feel this way about goals and then offer a better alternative. See if this scenario sounds familiar. You decide to work towards some new level of accomplishment. So you set a goal for yourself. Actually, you......