Bharat SainiLast Updated on January 19, 2022 by Bharat Saini
If you are looking to better yourself, then you have taken the first step in a long and rewarding journey to taking charge of your future. By deciding that you want to become better, you have realized that you can improve yourself, and that is a huge step in the right direction. What you need to do now is carry that momentum forward and continuously remind yourself that every step you take makes you a better person than the one you were before. This article aims to help suggest ways that you can grab your life by the horns and lead yourself to the future that you want.
You Need to Know Yourself
To start with, now that you have decided you want to better yourself, you need to have a nice long talk with yourself. Look deeply within yourself, and decide where you want to be this time next year. What do you want to change? People often think in terms of longer timescales: five years, ten years, etc. and these timescales are fine. In fact, having long-term goals is a good appraoch, but you can do a lot in a year, and it is worth making short-term goals, too. For example:
Figure Out What You Want
The core of these short-term plans is to figure out exactly what you want from yourself. What are your goals? This is not an easy question to answer, and you might not be able to answer it at all right away. So let it stew for a little while, and once you have an answer you can move on to the next step. Just don’t wait too long.
Set Yourself Goals (and Stick to Them)
Once you know what you want to achieve overall, you can break that down into smaller, more achievable goals. This works with anything, even getting up in the morning. If “Get up and start your day” seems too extreme, you can break that down into “Get out of bed,” “Brush your teeth,” “Shower,” “Get to work,” and so on. That might also seem extreme to you, but the idea is to make your goals feel more attainable, and there is no wrong way to do that.
Level Up Your Learning
If what you truly want requires you to develop new skills and knowledge, or become more proficient with a skill you already have, then often the best way forward is to learn about it from the pros. There is no point reinventing the wheel here—if the information and expertise already exists, then the best way to get up to speed is to get someone else to show you the ropes. There is no shame in that. Consider the following options:
Go to University
One of the best ways to learn about a subject that is entirely foreign to you is to go to university. This is where you will find the best learning resources available; where you will have access to professionals in the industry who are also teachers; and where you will have lecture after lecture to instill the subject into your mind. There are plenty of courses that you could take: from an MA Creative Writing degree, to an MSc Management in a Digital Economy degree, there are almost no limits on what you can learn at university.
Invest in Digital Learning
Another effective alternative that you might want to consider if you don’t have the time or the inclination to go to university is e-learning. Digital learning platforms enable you to access detailed information about specific topics, often helping you to achieve a university-level education in almost any topic. Although, these courses rarely allow you to interact with your instructor directly.
Establish Your Own Routine
Another highly beneficial step you can take to help you reach your goals is to start investing your time more intelligently. There are a lot of hours in a day, and most people waste a good deal of them because they don’t know how to properly manage their time. Well, the key to time management is a good timetable. Building up your daily routines and establishing a timetable to keep you on track will make unbelievable changes to your productivity. Here is how you can achieve this:
Build Up Good Habits
One of the biggest benefits of a solid daily routine is that it will help you to build up your healthy habits and fight against your negative ones. If you want to start exercising every day, by putting it on your routine and sticking to it, you will start building up that habit in your mind, and before long you won’t even struggle to start exercising when you are supposed to.
Give Yourself Clear Direction
On top of that, routines and timetables can serve to give you very strong direction about what you are supposed to do each and every day. This can be a lifesaver if you generally find yourself at a loose end, because instead of wasting hours every day trying to figure out what to do, you will utilize your time to do the tasks you actually want to do—whether that be skill-building, hobbies, or even spending more time with your friends.
Be Realistic
One point you need to be careful about when setting up routines and timetables like this is that you don’t need to concern yourself about little bits of lateness. If you end up starting or ending an activity on your timetable a few minutes—or even half an hour—earlier or later than you have it down, don’t worry about it. Your timetable exists to guide you, not to dictate what you do with your time, so don’t get the two mixed up.
Improve Your Health
Finally, one point that should be on everyone’s list and yet is often ignored is health. You have to lead a healthy life if you want to lead a productive, or even happy one. You might be able to get away with poor health habits right now—you might even get away with them for years—but they will catch up to you in the end, and your quality of life will drop because of it. So, make sure that your health is a part of your plan.
