Starting a Self-Improvement Journey

Making the decision to start a self-improvement journey is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. The great thing about such a journey is that it will improve all aspects of your life no matter what the focus. It is vital when starting such a journey that we build a system, with incremental goals that allow us to see incremental changes towards the change we are trying to achieve. This is true for any goals we set, so that we do not get lost in the effort. Some additional benefits to setting incremental goals is that we can get a better sense of how long each step will take and make adjustments as we learn about what works for us and what does not in the self-improvement space. This process will result in your knowing your emotional and rational self in a deeper, more robust way while proving insights into what your needs are and the mechanisms you prefer for having those needs met. You will also be able to deconstruct behaviors that are impeding your progress.

We all have habits that do not serve us, and on this journey of self-improvement, we can unlearn these habits and for some replacing them with new habits. Not every habit can be replaced by another, and not everyone is able to swap out habits. I smoked for 20 years, and I quit because my son asked me to for his 8th birthday. I did not replace smoking with anything. Instead, I drew on my core value of never breaking a promise to my son and to this day (22 years later), it is that promise that prevents me from smoking. This is an example to demonstrate how habit replacement is not always the right way to break a habit. Neither is knowing something is bad for you. My life is undeniably better since I quit smoking, but I still miss it.  It is ok to miss bad habits that are a barrier to you being able to fully actualize the best version of yourself. The key is to know why you are letting go or changing behavioral patterns and have the gain exceed the loss.

Something that can help you break out of old patterns is to change your environment. Rearrange your furniture, detox your social media, join a community of like-minded individuals, surround yourself with positivity. Finding a new hobby that improves the positivity in your life and keeps you busy will create a new structure to how you spend your time. Restructuring your routine and external environment cues the brain to start restructuring your internal environment. Self-improvement requires a lot of creativity, and this restructuring process will unlock your creativity and open you up to knew possibilities. Striking a balance between the known and unknown signals to the brain makes sure that you are not losing yourself but rather making changes that will improve your ability to have more good days than bad.