Self-improvement may seem unrelated to your academic or career success. It probably doesn't even seem like it factors into your internship or scholarship search or matters during networking events or extracurricular activities.
How you conduct yourself in various situations, your personal knowledge, life skills, interests, friendships, self-awareness, and confidence all play aspects in determining how others perceive you. This, in turn, determines whether you are offered certain opportunities in life.
Stay informed.
It used to be the norm for everyone to know the daily news – now it’s the norm for everyone to know the daily celebrity gossip and everyone’s social media updates. Improve your worldview by watching or reading the news – the real news (as in, current world events) every morning.
Become more self-aware.
Write down your daily thoughts or reflections in a journal to help you create more self-awareness and examine your thoughts, feelings and personal beliefs.
Express yourself.
Start a blog to share your thoughts and opinions with the world. (Keep it appropriate – remember, things on the internet stay on the internet forever!) Whether it’s politics, fashion, puppies or pancakes you care most about (or all, for that matter) – you have a platform to say what you want to say.
Focus on promoting and expressing what you love instead of bashing what you don’t. If you follow this general rule of thumb, you should stay within the positive guidelines of internet use.
Give back by volunteering.
Give back to the community by volunteering for a cause you’re passionate about. If you’re passionate about the cause, you’ll enjoy the work you’re doing because you know you’re making a difference.
Give thanks.
Keep a daily gratitude list. These lists can help you appreciate what you have in life and become thankful for things we should be appreciative of that most of us unfortunately overlook on a daily basis.
Unplug.
Take a technology break for at least one FULL day. We know this sounds crazy – it’s quite refreshing.
Exercise.
Exercise is good for your body and your mind. Start an exercise routine – and stick to it for at least three weeks. (It takes three weeks to form a habit, so you have to give it three weeks for a fair shot).
Planet Fitness is offering free gym memberships for the summer, including the chance to win one of 10, $10,000 scholarships!
Spread kindness.
Commit random acts of kindness to unsuspecting strangers for no reason. These can be small acts, like opening a door for a stranger, giving out compliments and helping little old ladies cross the street. Not only will be make others feel great, but you’ll feel great as well.
Be positive.
Try not to complain for 24 hours straight. If you complain, even once, your 24 hours starts over again. You’ll be surprised how much the lack of negativity influences your daily mindset.
Get inspired.
Watch TED Talks
to get inspired, motivated and learn new things.
Learn something new, just because.
Take a class, just because you want to learn something. Websites like Dabble offer short-term courses (as short as an hour) for affordable prices (they have classes under $30) in just about any subject (for example: Glass Blowing, Making Wontons, Composting and a Curling Iron Class).
If you don’t feel like spending cash, watch YouTube videos on a topic you want to learn for free until you get the hang of it.
Embarrass yourself.
Let loose and go sing karaoke with friends. You may be out of your comfort zone, but that is kind of the point here.
Gain perspective.
Read some Thought Catalog articles to think about things from a different perspective.
Replace a bad habit with a good one.
The habit that just flashed through your mind that you hoped we weren’t referring to. Yep, that one. Drop it and replace it with something better, like exercising or eating healthy. You’ll thank us later.
Evaluate your friendships.
As you age, you’ll realize there’s no point in “frenemies.” Friends should always root for you to succeed at any level – not for you to succeed, unless it beats them. Often it takes time to recognize this but, as soon as you do, they aren’t worth your time.
It’s also important to remember the difference between a person you refer to as a “friend” that gives you time when they have it free and a friend who makes free time for you.
True friends celebrate your successes as their own and don’t consider your successes their failures. Remember to invite your friend to join Fastweb—you both could win $500 scholarships!
Root for others to win.
If you spread positive energy to others, it ultimately affects how you feel about yourself. Negativity breeds negativity. You’re not hurting anyone but yourself when you root for others to fail. Remember, like what was mentioned in number 16, others’ successes are not your failures, and they are just others’ successes.
Be happy when others succeed – truly happy. If you can find a way to be happy about what other people accomplish, they will recognize this and be happy for you, too. And, even if they don’t, you will be happier with yourself, which is what really matters.
Stay real.
Check your lies at the door. Don’t be fake and mean what you say. We’re so conditioned to be agreeable that we often forget to be ourselves.
This, however, does not mean that you need to be rude to people. You can be polite and cordial without being rude.
However, you do not need to be fake to be tactful. It becomes fake when the niceties are overdone in such a manner that the person feels that they are either your friend when you’re not or they think you’re giving a genuine compliment when you’re just being polite.
What’s worse? Most people can tell when you’re being fake and will dislike you more for it when your goal was the opposite.
Conquer fear.
Okay, it doesn’t have to be a body-crippling phobia. However, if you have a fear that you feel you can overcome safely like, say, embarrassing yourself by singing karaoke in front of a room full of strangers (see number 13) – get out there and do it!
Deciding to conquer smaller fears will help you gain the confidence and bravery you need to conquer anything that crosses your path. We don’t always have the luxury of deciding when something is going to happen to us.
By taking time to conquer smaller fears, it helps you to prepare to handle any unexpected happenings that may come your way because you won’t be thrown off your game quite so easily by uncomfortable situations.
Treat yourself.
How often do you do this? Probably not very. It doesn’t have to be extravagant – but take a day for you and only you. Do the things you enjoy, whether it’s sleeping in, having your favorite foods, watching your favorite movies or just enjoying the company of your cat. Whatever you want to do, for an entire day, do it.
20 Ways You Can Improve
Taking the time to focus on you is a smart move and it’s surprisingly easy. Use this list of 20 task items as a starting point to work towards improving yourself and, ultimately, achieving success within both your personal, academic, and professional life:- Get lost in a good book.
