Happy new year once again. I will like to thank you for being part of our story in 2020. And today, I am glad you made it to 2021 despite the challenges in 2020. One thing that must take priority this year is personal development. If you don’t develop yourself, no one else will. In this article, I will share top tips on how to improve yourself in 2021.
The journey won’t be smooth but the year will be great for you if you take personal development serious. So, remain consistent. Persevere and never let go of your hopes and aspirations.
Set Out Time For Self Reflection
The first thing on the list of how to improve yourself is to cultivate the habit of self reflection. This is a very important step and you should do it as often as possible. If you can create time for it, I will suggest you do this weekly. You can block out a time on your calendar to do this. At this time, switch off your phone and find a quiet place in your house. To be able to do this effectively, you need to be away from distraction.
Self reflection will help you achieve the following:
- Where you are coming from
- Where you want to be.
Also, it will help you to have clarity on what you need to do to achieve your goals.
Have SMART Goals
One of the things self reflection will help you to achieve is to have clarity on what you need to do. So, the next step is to have smart goals. Turn your intentions into clearly defined goals with clear timeline. Goals without a clear a plan of how to achieve them is just a mere a dream. So, outline your goals clearly. Have them written in a place that you can easily access.
Embrace Personal Development
To achieve some of your goals, you may need to acquire new skills or even develop existing skills. I will say this is most important tip on how to improve yourself. There are several ways through which you can achieve this. You can learn by reading books, attending a seminar or even going back to school. The truth is that technology has made personal development easier. You can listen to audio books while exercising. You can take a course from the comfort of your house. In addition, you can earn a new degree without appearing physically in a school.
Below, you will find useful websites that can help you acquire those skills:
- Coursera
- edX
- Khan Academy
- Udemy
- iTunesU Free Courses
- MIT OpenCourseWare
- Stanford Online
- Sailor Academy
- Alison
- Codecademy
- Open Culture
So, whatever you plan to do, prioritize personal development.
Eliminate Distraction
One thing you need to know is that distractions will come. It is a matter of when and not if. So, accept that distractions will always come and always be on the lookout for them. The moment you identify any distraction, eliminate it. The starting point is to understand yourself and what normally distracts you. Then, watch out for those things on a daily basis.
Always Seek Feedback
One of the other ways to improve yourself is to constantly seek feedback especially from people that are close t you. This does not only help to improve your performance, it will serve as a tool for continuous learning. Each feedback will help you yo identify what you are doing well and what areas you need to improve. In addition, this will help you to make the most of your self reflection time.
As you can see, if you must improve yourself this year, you have to be deliberate about it. Also, it has to be part of your life in order to achieve any meaningful result. Consistency very key. So, be deliberate with your personal and self development this year. Have a happy new year, be safe, and achieve your dreams.
