How bizarre, how bizarre. Most people (ourselves included) want improvement in some or even many areas of our lives. Whether it is to get in better shape, have more energy, or be less anxious, we have all these ideals of what we want. However, for years, you have done nothing about it. Is it because you need a plan on ‘how to improve yourself everyday’?

The secret to living a fulfilled and productive life is knowing how to improve yourself everyday and following through on that plan. Studies show that successful people make tiny but intentional daily changes in their personal and professional lives. These small daily changes are more powerful and viscid than the alternative of trying to implement large changes all at once.

Many of us realize we could improve in some areas of our lives. For some reason, we procrastinate and delay taking on this task of becoming a better person. For others, the mission of self-improvement seems overwhelming, so they don’t ever start. Then, there are those who don’t even care about self-development.

I have had this conversation about improving oneself with many people. I realized that those who don’t care about personal growth could only be helped once they acknowledge they are underachieving. This article is not for them. If you are reading this, you are not one of these people. Either you are well on your way to becoming the best version of yourself or seeking ways to help you improve. Let’s look at five steps to help us grow and improve.

The first step in self-improvement is having self-awareness. Sounds obvious: knowing the areas of your life that need work and improvement. Where are you underachieving? Learning how to improve requires understanding what needs to be improved. Many people go through life with a vague idea of what they plan to improve but have never even written this down.

How can you go through your whole life without even writing down your bad habits? Or understanding where you need personal development? If you don’t spend time getting a grip on where you could and should improve, you will never improve.

Maybe you are overweight, and you feel you need to shed those extra pounds. This is at least a good start. But have you ever spent a Saturday or Sunday morning alone, figuring out why you are overweight to start with? You obviously want an improvement in the shape of your body and your health. Maybe you also need to scratch a little deeper and figure out what is causing your pain. Is being overweight just a symptom? Perhaps you need to improve how you value yourself and your body. The underlying issue also needs to be identified.

The good news is that the steps below can overcome even the difficult-to-isolate psychology.

So, you have identified things you would like to improve in your life. You want to improve and start working on these areas but may have some reason for postponing the necessary changes. Maybe you aren’t even sure why you are delaying. Perhaps you are scared that if you try, you may fail. Or it could be you need such a massive change you don’t even know where and how to start.

There are also more subtle and difficult-to-unravel reasons why we don’t want to accomplish improvement in our lives. These could range from being too busy with no real priorities and goals to doubting yourself and having depression or anxiety issues. Perhaps we secretly enjoy the pain and the suffering. It’s so easy to live in the muck and the mire. Trying to improve who you are takes effort, energy, focus, and willpower. If it were easy, every person would be successful and happy.

Often, the things that are bugging us the things we know need to improve, can become so unbearable we eventually have to take action.

If step one is coming to a place of enlightenment with what needs improvement. Step two is figuring out your why. This next step in the process to start working on self-improvement means finding out why you want to change. Your why, what do you want to achieve, whom do you want to become, and why? Let’s explore your why.

As we discussed at the start of the article. Most of us want to improve in some areas of our lives. Most of us either delay ways to better ourselves or even give up. This is because your why isn’t strong enough. One of the most effective ways to start self-improvement and growth is to get a strong why.

If your why is strong enough, it is easy to grow and become the person you want to be. To live your best life, spend some time figuring out your why. Say you want to learn a new language, learn a new skill, or some new hobby. Ask yourself why you want to learn this skill or why you want to be able to speak another language. How would you feel if you could achieve this? What would success in this area look like? How would your life be different if you could speak a new language or you could learn a new skill?

Imagine how your life would look if you could make these changes. Then, put down (on paper) how you would feel, how much easier things could be, and how it would impact your life. Try to think of every benefit these changes would make in your life. Say it is financial, then add in thoughts of satisfaction when you can help somebody in dire financial need.

Don’t only stress the positive changes it will make in your life. Write down the positive changes it could make in other people’s lives. I wrote an article on goal setting that may help you with this.

Your self-improvement journey may impact the lives of your children, partner, friends, or parents. Will they benefit from your best self? Start writing this down. Bring in all the emotions you can into your why. Write down every positive thing you can think of.

If you take the time and stay focused on writing down and thinking about your why, you can make it happen.

At this stage in your plan, you know where you want to make changes, and you know your ‘why.’ Next, we need a way to learn how to get these improvements.

One of the best ways to figure out how to attain self-improvement and your personal goals is to break it down into daily disciplines. In other words, to achieve the improvements you seek, what do you need to do every day to achieve your goals in the future?

“You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.” Jim Rohn

Give yourself a reasonable timeline. Remember, there are no unreasonable goals, only unreasonable timelines. So, what small daily actions do you need to take to achieve whatever improvements or goals you have set for yourself? If you want to learn something new, how long will it take? What do you need to do every day to learn new skills? Maybe you need an extra two hours of work in your day, and you need to start scheduling waking up early. What will improve your productivity? Often, one of the best ways to grow is not so much what you put into your schedule but what you take out.

If you want to lose weight and become healthier, add an exercise routine to your week. Start small, maybe 3-4 walks a week. Just get your body moving. If you are learning a language, perhaps you need to cut down on TV watching and use the time saved to learn. I’m a big fan of looking at people’s daily schedules and seeing where they can save time.

Add in an hour or two of work on yourself in the day. Combined with saving wasted time in your day, you will be amazed how these changes quickly impact your mood.

“Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practiced every day.” Jim Rohn

If you look at some small, easy-to-achieve daily disciplines to get you started, you can make these stick. Focus on the positive, and make it a goal to do your daily disciplines.

Now, this is going to sound strange. Once you have set up your daily disciplines, forget about what improvements you are seeking.

“If you quit on the process, you are quitting on the result.” Idowu Koyenikan

Your daily disciplines help you become what you want to be. Live your life celebrating your daily disciplines. The small daily disciplines will help you stay on track. You don’t need to stress about your goals or where you are underachieving if you use your time each day to hit your daily disciplines. Make the process the goal. Celebrate the process. Pat yourself on your back if you did the daily disciplines each day this week.

The daily disciplines will make sure you’re on track. Finishing a project is dependent on you doing the daily disciplines. The time you spend on the small daily disciplines if practiced daily, is how you fulfill your life. If you celebrate and say yes to doing the small disciplines, it will inevitably make you happier. You only need to occasionally check in with your goals to see that you are still on track.

Whether it’s progress or change you are looking for, success is inevitable if you keep practicing these daily disciplines. They will help you better yourself. You see, the small disciplines start to change who you are. These few simple disciplines, if practiced daily, make you a person of discipline. This process helps you gain wisdom and insight and acknowledge your flaws. They allow you to see where else you can improve. No matter what life throws at you, if you are a person of discipline, you know you will overcome.

Bettering yourself can help those around you.

Failure is a great way to learn success. I went through a stage a few years back where I would come home from work and spend the evening watching the TV. I somehow got into the mindset that I deserved a break after a hard day.

Instead of spending quality time with my family or working on a side hustle, I would watch TV and eat copious amounts of food. Neither was suitable for my work and family. I learned I didn’t want to live that way.

The weird thing is, if you are dedicated to your daily disciplines, you’ll have more time for your family and friends, playing sports, or whatever else is important to you. When learning to become disciplined, you know to use your time wisely. You soon find you’ll have time for what is important because you are disciplined with what you do in your day.

Feeding your mind positive and uplifting information all day is beneficial. On your way to work or, if possible, during exercise, use the time to listen to a podcast that will benefit and reinforce some learnings. Spend time in the morning in prayer and gratitude. If you are getting up earlier, spend the first section of that time giving thanks for being alive and having been given another day. Think of ways to feed your mind positive information throughout the day. Be mindful of your time and leverage your daily disciplines with valuable and helpful information.

To get the best results, ensure you put in your body food that benefits you and keeps your energy up. These are the keys to improving yourself every day:

• What do you need to improve?

• Your ‘why’. Why are you searching for these improvements?

• The How. How will we make the changes to reach the improvements?

• Daily disciplines. They key to it all

• Being mindful with your time

You can achieve what you want. You can become somebody stronger, more disciplined, and more successful. The small, simple disciplines practiced everyday are what it takes.

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