Change Yourself
72If you are searching for ways to improve yourself but you can’t seem to make any headway, perhaps you should consider the possibility that you do not really want to change. Self-improvement is really about creating a change within yourself. That inner change then reflects and reverberates in the world around you.
All too often, self-improvement is thought to be some type of science—the best tools to work with, books to learn from, seminars to pump you up. While all of these things are helpful, if you are not changed on the inside, every bit of self-improvement you attempt to apply to yourself will most likely not last very long.
If you are serious about improving yourself and living a fuller life through self-improvement, you can do it. Let’s take a look at how you can begin your transformation through changes within yourself.
Change #1: Stop talking about what you are going to do.
If you only sit around and talk about all the ways you are going to change yourself for the better and never actually start making those changes, it will never happen. You are you. You are the only one who can change who you are, what you do, or how you live. If you want to improve yourself, you have to stop being a talker and start being a doer.
Change #2: Start living your life; don’t keep waiting for tomorrow.
Are you wasting away precious time because you can only dream of what a better future for yourself might be like? Where is all the dreaming getting you? You need goals and dreams. But more than that, you need to get up and start living your life now. If you keep dreaming about all the ways you’ll be a better person in ten years and don’t start living for today, those ten years will pass and you will still be the same person you are today. Live today. Make one tiny change today.
Change #3: Get input from others.
One of the best ways to improve yourself is to get input from other people who know you well. In order to do this though, you need thick skin. Don’t ask for someone’s honest opinion of positive changes you need to make, then get mad at them for telling you the truth. Listen with an open and willing heart and make notes of what you’re told. You will gather a wealth of valuable input, if you are willing to listen and apply it to your life.
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Comments
Good advice. I think the very first step in self-improvement comes with the understanding that the way you think controls your actions. Your actions then lead to your circumstances. If you want to change your circumstances, you must work on the way you think. Most people are anxious to change the circumstances, they want a magic pill, but are unwilling to give up some of their long held beliefs.
You must truly understand that where you are today is the sum total of all your thoughts. Where you will be tomorrow will be the sum total of your thoughts at that time. And you are in complete control of your thoughts. Change your thoughts, change your life.
You cannot just decide to change your thoughts. You must internailze new ideas. One of the best ways is by reading such books as "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen and "A Manual for Living - Epictetus". Follow that by keeping a journal of your thoughts. Record what you did and more importantly why you did certain things. Are your actions taking you toward the life you want?
As always, you've left us with some wonderful insight here, John. Thank you!
One should be aware that most changes don’t happen overnight. Even if you do stop thinking about changing and turn these thoughts into action, there’s a chance that you will not see any results directly. Changes to your own thinking – the internalizing of the thought as John rightfully calls it – take time to ‘sink in’. You should realize that it mostly is a subtle process. Things happen gradually, rather than drastically. It is only when the changes have fully been implemented that the difference becomes fully visible.
You are exactly right. Change requires time, diligence, and effort.
MABledsoe says:
17 months ago
You are so right. Many people think that they can read the books and go to the seminars and they will automatically change. People need to know that they have to make the change themselve, no one else can do it for them.