42 Practical Ways To Improve YourselfLIFESTYLEBYCELESTINE CHUAAre you someone who likes to grow? Do you constantly seek to improve yourself and become better?If you do, then we have something in common. Im very passionate about personal growth. It was just 4 years ago when I discovered my passion for growing and helping others grow. At that time, I was 22 and in my final year of university. As I thought about the meaning of life, I realized there was nothing more meaningful than to pursue a life of development and betterment. It is through improving ourselves that we get the most out of life.SEE ALSO:How to Better Yourself One Day at a TimeAfter 1.5 years of actively pursuing growth and helping others to grow through my personal development blog, I realize there is never an end to the journey of self improvement. The more I grow, the more I realize there isso much out there I dont know, so much that I have to learn.For sure, there is always something about ourselves we can improve on. The human potential is limitless, so its impossible to reach a point of no growth. Whenever we think we are good, we can be even better.

As a passionate advocate of growth, Im continuously looking for ways to self-improve. Ive compiled 42 of my best tips which might be helpful in your personal growth journey. Some of them are simple steps which you can engage in immediately. Some are bigger steps which takes conscious effort to act on.Here they are:1. Read a book every day.Books are concentrated sources of wisdom. The more books you read, the more wisdom you expose yourself to. What are some books you can start reading to enrich yourself? Some books Ive read and found useful are Think and Grow Rich, Who Moved My Cheese, 7 Habits, The Science of Getting Rich and Living the 80/20 Way. Ive heard positive reviews for The Tipping Point, Outliers and The Difference Maker, so Ill be checking them out soon.2. Learn a new language.As a Singaporean Chinese, my main languages are English, Mandarin and Hokkien (a Chinese dialect). Out of interest, I took up language courses in the past few years such as Japanese and Bahasa Indonesian. I realized learning a language is a whole new skill altogether and the process of acquainting with a new language and culture is a totally a mind-opening experience.3. Pick up a new hobby. Beyond just your usual favorite hobbies, is there something new you can pick up? Any new sport you can learn? Examples are fencing, golf, rock climbing, football, canoeing, or ice skating. Your new hobby can also be a recreational hobby. For example, pottery, Italian cooking, dancing, wine appreciation, web design, etc. Learning something new requires you to stretch yourself in different aspects, whether physically, mentally or emotionally.4. Take up a new course.Is there any new course you can join? Courses are a great way to gain new knowledge and skills. It doesnt have to be a long-term course seminars or workshops serve their purpose too. Ive been to a few workshops and they have helped me gain new insights which I had not considered before.5. Create an inspirational room. Your environment sets the mood and tone for you. If you are living in an inspirational environment, you are going to be inspired every day. In the past, I didnt like my room at all because I thought it was messy and dull. A few years ago, I decided this was the end of it I started on a Mega Room Revamp project and overhauled my room. The end result? A room I totally relish being in and inspires me to be at my peak every day.6. Overcome your fears. All of us have fears. Fear of uncertainty, fear of public speaking, fear of risk All our fears keep us in the same position and prevent us from growing. Recognize that your fears reflect areas where you can grow. I always think of fears as the compass for growth. If I have a fear about something, it represents something Ive yet to address, and addressing it helps me to grow.7. Level up your skills.If you have played video games before especially RPGs, youll know the concept of leveling up gaining experience so you can be better and stronger. As a blogger, Im constantly leveling up my writing skills. As a speaker, Im constantly leveling up my public engagement abilities. What skills can you level up?8. Wake up early. Waking up early (say, 5-6am) has been acknowledged by many (Anthony Robbins, Robin Sharma, among other self-help gurus) to improve your productivity and your quality of life. I feel its because when you wake up early, your mindset is already set to continue the momentum and proactively live out the day. Seth recently wrote a waking up early series which you should check out to help cultivate this habit.9. Have a weekly exercise routine. A better you starts with being in better physical shape. I personally make it a point to jog at least 3 times a week, at least 30 minutes each time. You may want to mix it up with jogging, gym lessons and swimming for variation.10. Start your life handbook.A life handbook is an idea I started 3 years ago. Basically, its a book which contains the essentials on how you can live your life to the fullest, such as your purpose, your values and goals. Sort of like your manual for your life. I started my life handbook since 2007 and its been a crucial enabler in my progress.11. Write a letter to your future self. What do you see yourself as 5 years from now? Will you be the same? Different? What kind of person will you be? Write a letter to your future self 1 year from now will be a good start and seal it. Make a date in your calendar to open it 1 year from now. Then start working to become the person you want to open that letter.12. Get out of your comfort zone.Real growth comes with hard work and sweat. Being too comfortable doesnt help us grow it makes us stagnate. What is your comfort zone? Do you stay in most of the time? Do you keep to your own space when out with other people? Shake your routine up. Do something different. By exposing yourself to a new context, youre literally growing as you learn to act in new circumstances.13. Put someone up to a challenge.Competition is one of the best ways to grow. Set a challenge (weight loss, exercise, financial challenge, etc) and compete with an interested friend to see who achieves the target first. Through the process, both of you will gain more than if you were to set off on the target alone.14. Identify yourblind spots.Scientifically, blind spots refer to areas our eyes are not capable of seeing. In personal development terms, blind spots are things about ourselves we are unaware of. Discovering our blind spots help us discover our areas of improvement. One exercise I use to discover my blind spots is to identify all the things/events/people that trigger me in a day trigger meaning making me feel annoyed/weird/affected. These represent my blind spots. Its always fun to do the exercise because I discover new things about myself, even if I may already think I know my own blind spots (but then they wouldnt be blind spots would they?). After that, I work on steps to address them.15. Ask for feedback.As much as we try to improve, we will always have blind spots. Asking for feedback gives us an additional perspective. Some people to approach will be friends, family, colleagues, boss, or even acquaintances, since they will have no preset bias and can give their feedback objectively.16. Stay focused with to-do lists. I start my day with a list of tasks I want to complete and this helps make me stay focused. In comparison, the days when I dont do this end up being extremely unproductive. For example, part of my to-do list for today is to write a guest post at LifeHack.Org, and this is why Im writing this now! Since my work requires me to use my computer all the time, I useFree Sticky Notesto manage my to-do lists. Its really simple to use and its a freeware, so I recommend you check it out.17. Set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). Im a big fan of setting BHAGs. BHAGs stretch you beyond your normal capacity since they are big and audacious you wouldnt think of attempting them normally. What are BHAGs you can embark on, which youll feel absolutely on top of the world once you complete them? Set them and start working on them.18. Acknowledge your flaws. Everyone has flaws. Whats most important is to understand them, acknowledge them, and address them. What do you think are your flaws? What are the flaws you can work on now? How do you want to address them?19. Get into action.The best way to learn and improve is to take action. What is something you have been meaning to do? How can you take action on it immediately? Waiting doesnt get anything done. Taking action gives you immediate results to learn from.20. Learn from people who inspire you.Think about people you admire. People who inspire you. These people reflect certain qualities you want to have for yourself too. What are the qualities in them you want to have for yourself? How can you acquire these qualities?21. Quit a bad habit.Are there any bad habits you can lose? Oversleeping? Not exercising? Being late? Slouching? Nail biting? Smoking? Heres some help onhow you can quit a bad habit.22. Cultivate a new habit.Some good new habits to cultivate include reading books (#1), waking up early (#8), exercising (#9), reading a new personal development article a day (#40) and meditating. Is there any other new habit you can cultivate to improve yourself?23. Avoid negative people. As Jim Rohn says, You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Wherever we go, there are bound to be negative people. Dont spend too much of your time around them if you feel they drag you down.24. Learn to deal with difficult people.There are times when there are difficult people you cant avoid, such as at your workplace, or when the person is part of your inner circle of contacts. Learn how to deal with them. These people management skills will go a long way in working with people in the future.25. Learn from your friends.Everyone has amazing qualities in them. Its up to how we want to tap into them. With all the friends who surround you, they are going to have things you can learn from. Try thinking of a good friend right now. Think about just one quality they have which you want to adopt. How can you learn from them and adopt this skill for yourself? Speak to them if you need to for sure, they will be more than happy to help!26. Start a journal. Journaling is a great way to gain better self-awareness. Its a self-reflection process. As you write, clarify your thought process and read what you wrote from a third persons perspective, you gain more insights about yourself. Your journal can be private or an online blog. I use my personal development blog as a personal journal too and Ive learned a lot about myself through the past year of blogging.27. Start a blog about personal development. To help others grow, you need to first be walking the talk. There are expectations of you, both from yourself and from others, which you have to uphold. I run The Personal Excellence Blog, where I share my personal journey and insights on how to live a better life. Readers look toward my articles to improve themselves, which enforces to me that I need to keep improving, for myself and for the people Im reaching out to.28. Get a mentor or coach.Theres no faster way to improve than to have someone work with you on your goals. Many of my clients approach me to coach them in their goals and they achieve significantly more results than if they had worked alone.29. Reduce the time you spend on chat programs.I realized having chat programs open at default result in a lot of wasted time. This time can be much better spent on other activities. The days when I dont get on chat, I get a lot more done. I usually disable the auto start-up option in the chat programs and launch them when I do want to chat and really have the time for it.30. Learn chess (or any strategy game).I found chess is a terrific game to learn strategy and hone your brainpower. Not only do you have fun, you also get to exercise your analytical skills. You can also learn strategy from other board games or computer games, such as Othello, Chinese Chess, WarCraft, and so on.31. Stop watching TV.Ive not been watching TV for pretty much 4 years and its been a very liberating experience. I realized most of the programs and advertisements on mainstream TV are usually of a lower consciousness and not very empowering. In return, the time Ive freed up from not watching TV is now constructively used for other purposes, such as connecting with close friends, doing work I enjoy, exercising, etc.32. Start a 30-day challenge. Set a goal and give yourself 30 days to achieve this. Your goal can be to stick with a new habit or something youve always wanted to do but have not. 30 days is just enough time to strategize, plan, get into action, review and nail the goal.33. Meditate. Meditation helps to calm you and be more conscious. I also realized that during the nights when I meditate (before I sleep), I need lesser sleep. The clutter clearing process is very liberating.34. Join Toastmasters (Learn public speaking).Interestingly,public speakingis the #1 fear in the world, with #2 being death. After I started public speaking as a personal development speaker/trainer, Ive learned a lot about how to communicate better, present myself and engage people. Toastmasters is an international organization that trains people in public speaking.Check out the Toastmasterclubs nearest to you here.35. Befriend top people in their fields. These people have achieved their results because they have the right attitudes, skill sets and know-how. How better to learn than from the people who have been there and done that? Gain new insights from them on how you can improve and achieve the same results for yourself.36. Let go of the past.Is there any grievance or unhappiness from the past which you have been holding on? If so, its time to let it go. Holding on to them prevents you from moving on and becoming a better person. Break away from the past, forgive yourself, and move on. Just recently, I finally moved on from a past heartbreak of 5 years ago. The effect was liberating and very empowering, and I have never been happier.37. Start a business venture.Is there anything you have an interest in? Why not turn it into a venture and make money while learning at the same time? Starting a new venture requires you to be learn business management skills, develop business acumen and have a competitive edge. The process of starting and developing my personal development business has equipped me with many skills, such as self-discipline, leadership, organization and management.38. Show kindness to people around you.You can never be too kind to someone. In fact, most of us dont show enough kindness to people around us. Being kind helps us to cultivate other qualities such as compassion, patience, and love. As you get back to your day after reading this article later on, start exuding more kindness to the people around you, and see how they react. Not only that, notice how you feel as you behave kindly to others. Chances are, you will feel even better than yourself.39. Reach out to the people who hate you. If you ever stand for something, you are going to get haters. Its easy to hate the people who hate us. Its much more challenging to love them back. Being able to forgive, let go and show love to these people requires magnanimity and an open heart. Is there anyone who dislikes or hates you in your life? If so, reach out to them. Show them love. Seek a resolution and get closure on past grievances. Even if they refuses to reciprocate, love them all the same. Its much more liberating than to hate them back.40. Take a break. Have you been working too hard? Self-improvement is also about recognizing our need to take a break to walk the longer mile ahead. You cant be driving a car if it has no petrol. Take some time off for yourself every week. Relax, rejuvenate and charge yourself up for whats up ahead.41. Read at least 1 personal development article a day. Some of my readers make it a point to read at least one personal development article every day, which I think is a great habit. There are many terrific personal development blogs out there,some of which you can check here.42. Commit to your personal growth. I can be writing list articles with 10 ways, 25 ways, 42 ways or even 1,000 ways to improve yourself, but if youve no intention to commit to your personal growth, it doesnt matter what I write. Nothing is going to get through. We are responsible for our personal growth not anyone else. Not your mom, your dad, your friend, me or LifeHack. Make the decision to commit to your personal growth and embrace yourself to a life-long journey of growth and change. Kick off your growth by picking a few of the steps above and working on them. The results may not be immediate, but I promise you that as long as you keep to it, youll start seeing positive changes in yourself and your life.43. CV Writing44. 45. A good CV can make all the difference between landing an interview for that dream job, and being passed over. Therefore, it can pay to sharpen up your CV writing skills, giving you a better chance to make a good first impression.46. Learn a Language47. 48. In todays globalised business environment, being multi-lingual can be an invaluable personal asset. While you cant expect to become fluent in another language within a matter of months, even knowing a little bit of another language can be useful in certain situations.49. Embracing Change50. 51. Change is constant, and often attempts to resist change can be futile. Its better to embrace it when it comes along, so that you are better positioned to adapt to the new environment and seize the opportunities it presents.52. Klout Score53. 54. Social media influence is all-important these days, and one of the most reliable measures of this is your Klout score. To see yours, simply sign up to Klout and connect your social media accounts and then investigate what you can do to improve it.55. Giving Presentations56. Presentations are a fact of life in many jobs, and by working on your presentation skills, you can transform this into a valuable professional asset. This might entail working on your diction (see Clear Speech), your body language, and your public speaking skills.57. Self-Promotion58. 59. If you cant sell yourself, how can you expect anyone to believe in you? While those inclined to modesty might baulk at the prospect of bigging themselves up, its a vital skill in a number of scenarios such as job interviews, sales presentations, and pitches so its worth getting better at highlighting your strengths without coming across as big headed.60. Arguing Constructively61. 62. Arguments can be terribly destructive, but if you approach them in the right way, they can be a force for good. The key is to learn how to argue constructively, which often means keeping emotions in check and showing greater consideration for the views of others.63. Interview Technique64. 65. Job interviews can be harrowing experiences, but you can take great strides towards performing well in them just by brushing up on your interview technique. The internet is full of tips on how to do this.66. Time Management67. 68. Its easy to waste time if you havent got a clear plan of how you are going to assign it to various tasks. By employing time-management techniques, you can improve your punctuality and professionalism, while making more time for the things that are really important to you.69. Creativity70. 71. Some believe creativity cant be learned, but everyone has some capacity for it it just might be well hidden. There are plenty of exercises and activities that can be employed to foster a more creative mindset, which can be valuable in a number of professional and personal situations.72. Clear Speech73. 74. Being able to speak clearly, making sure that words are properly enunciated and given the right energy, is an underrated talent, and one that can be especially useful when giving presentations or attending interviews. By learning a few tricks, and doing a bit of practice on your own time, you can improve on this vital aspect of your communication skills.75. Dressing Better76. 77. There is a definite art to dressing well, and if you can master it, it will help to create a much more positive first impression when you meet influential people, such as potential employers or clients. You dont need to splash out on expensive suits its often simply a case of finding clothes that fit you well, and have a degree of colour co-ordination.78. 79. Eating Healthily80. 81. As the saying goes, you are what you eat, and if you dont give yourself the right fuel, you wont be in the right shape to achieve your personal and professional goals. You dont need to go on a crazy diet just take a few steps to improve the nutritional quality of the food you do eat, and cut down on unhealthy snacks.82. Exercise83. 84. Energy is the key to productivity, and by exercising regularly, you can boost your energy levels significantly. Start by setting achievable goals, such as walking 10,000 steps per day or getting out of breath at least twice a week.85. Learn an Instrument86. 87. Playing an instrument can be a lot of fun, and can certainly help you to unwind and focus after a long day at the coalface. Also, it can improve your brain function, especially spatial awareness and co-ordination, so you may find it has a beneficial knock-on effect on your professional performance.88. Yoga89. 90. If your job involves sitting in a chair all day, you need to do something to get those joints flexing and the blood pumping. Yoga is one of the most effective, and beneficial forms of exercise, and it can be done easily at home using free instructional videos.91. Written Communications92. 93. No matter what your skill level as a writer, everyone has room to improve their written communication skills. This is especially important in an age where text-based communication via email, social media, and SMS has become a lot more important in many cases than verbal communication.94. Finding Your Excitement95. 96. Being stuck in a rut can be bad news for your motivation levels. The key to self-motivation is to find things that genuinely excite you, and pursue them. This involves being honest with yourself about the things that you really find stimulating, and trying to gear your professional life towards including more of these aspects.97. Embracing Mistakes98. 99. Everyone makes mistakes, and at the very least you can always learn from them. Also, in many lines of work, its more important to have the freedom to make mistakes rather than erring on the side of caution all the time although this advice obviously doesnt apply if you drive or operate heavy machinery for a living!100. Positivity101. 102. Optimism can be a huge energising force, both for yourself and the people around you. By cultivating a relentlessly positive attitude, you can make yourself more productive, more approachable, and more productive after all, positive things happen to positive people.103. Stopping Bad Habits104. 105. The New Year is often a time when people attempt to give up bad habits via New Years Resolutions only to break them shortly after. In general, its better to make small improvements to your lifestyle one at a time, rather than trying to cut out several bad habits at once.106. Self-Awareness107. 108. Becoming self-aware is a long process, but by knowing yourself, you will be much better placed to make the right decisions about your professional and personal life. There are lots of things you can do to promote self-awareness in yourself for example, by filling out personality tests or brainstorming.109. Listening110. 111. Being a good listener is the key to successful verbal communication. Yet, many of us drift off when others are talking, fail to give our full attention, and even talk over people when one of our own thoughts bubbles to the surface. By getting good at listening, you can markedly improve the quality of your communications with others, and be better positioned to respond when it is your turn to speak