Trying to constantly improve yourself and your finances can drastically improve your life, giving you a sense of security, opening doors for you, or even enabling you to help others in life-changing ways. Whatever your reasons are for wanting to keep improving, here are 20 tricks to help you keep improving!
1. Set Specific, Concrete Goals
Setting goals is important, but it’s also important to make them specific and achievable. If you have a hard time doing that, remember the SMART method. If you don’t remember, that means set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. An example of a good goal to help you manage your time better might be something like “between 8 AM and 12 PM I will not answer my personal phone or do anything unrelated to work.”
Additionally, setting hard time limits can be a boon when you’re trying to figure out how much you can accomplish. Of course, if you give yourself a deadline that is clearly unattainable, then you’ll end up hurting yourself in the long run. Start taking note of how long it takes you to do certain tasks, especially if they’re somewhat routine, so you can start setting realistic timelines.
2. Surround Yourself With People You Respect
Surrounding yourself with people you respect will challenge you to keep growing. This may be professionally, but it may also be in more personal and emotional ways. The point is, when you surround yourself with good people, they will push you to be good too. Likewise, if you surround yourself with successful people, they will push you and help you become successful as well. So, surround yourself with the type of people you want to be more like, and you’ll find yourself in a great, rewarding community.
3. Never Stop Learning
It’s important to new stop learning new skills or about different topics. Shoring up your weak points can make you stronger overall, and constantly honing your skills and knowledge base can help you succeed in many aspects of your life.
Read Daily
All of your experiences help shape you into the person you are, and all of them teach you valuable skills. Believe it or not, you can end up picking up a lot of useful information and skills through reading. At a minimum, reading can expand your vocabulary and show you new perspectives and ideas that you hadn’t considered. To some people, that may not sound like much. However, better vocabulary makes you a much better communicator, and being introduced to new ideas and perspectives can have a positive impact on both your soft skills (again, like communication), as well as your general attitude towards life.
4. Get Rid Of Bad Habits
Bad habits are like a plague that will slow you down and leave you worse off. Do your best to get rid of them. Now, getting rid of bad habits is probably harder than building good ones, but it’s still possible. Identify your problem areas, and set goals surrounding them so you can break free – it’s all about the discipline to stay consistent even when it gets hard!
5. Start Building Good Habits
The “secrets” to financial success seem to always just be out of reach of most people. Yet, somehow, there seems to be a huge supply of financially successful people who enjoy a comfortable lifestyle and their numbers increase every day. Fortunately, I spoke to many well-off individuals and discussed some of the habits and skills they had to develop to get where they are today.
6. Face Your Fears
Let’s face it (get it?), we all have to face our fears at some point. Getting a head start and facing them early will just set you up for more success later on. You don’t have to completely get over your fears – just learn how to handle them.
7. Write A Letter To Your Past Self
When in doubt, write a letter about where you currently are to your past self. On one hand, this can help you identify your shortcomings and how you aren’t where you wish you were. On the other hand, this can also help you realize how far you come – which can help encourage you to keep growing like you have been.
8. Write A Letter To Your Future Self
On top of that, you can write a letter to your future self. This can be a big boon in the goal-setting process, as it forces you to begin thinking about what you want long-term and where you want to be. Setting those goals can then help you get the ball rolling in the present!
9. Heed Constructive Criticism
If you have wise people willing to give you advice or constructive criticism, you should listen to it. There is no shame in getting help or wisdom from others, and it’s important to listen and grow because of it. In fact, if you have someone in your life who can give you great feedback, then you’re lucky and should take advantage of that luxury – it can help steer you in the right direction.
10. Use To-Do Lists
To-do lists sound simple, and they are, but they’re a big help. Managing your time is a lot easier when you have a simple and concise to-do list to follow. Considering how helpful to-do lists are, there is no reason to not use them. After all, if something so easy helps you, then why not use it?
11. Blog
At some point or another, I’m sure you’ve considered starting a blog – most of us have. Starting a blog can be intimidating to be sure, and it may prove overwhelming at first. Fortunately, I learned a lot through my own experience blogging, and I’ve broken it down into ten easy steps for you. Blogging is great for people who are into writing non-fiction, but also liking teaching or helping other people as well. I talk about personal finance and development. Other bloggers talk about food, travel, and just about anything else you can think of.
Blogs can also make a lot of money, but you usually have to write for years before you start seeing significant money.
12. Take The Challenge
Side hustles are great, and in today’s tech savvy world, it’s easier than ever to start one. I definitely love it when people pursue a side hustle (in fact I encourage it). After all, a side hustle brings you more income and financial stability to your family. If you want to start a successful side hustle, go ahead and take my 30 day challenge now!
13. Network
It’s hard to overstate the value of networking. You’ll hear about and have opportunities that you wouldn’t get otherwise. Let’s take a common example. A job needs to be filled, and the hiring manager has narrowed it down to two candidates. We’ll say Joe is an okay candidate, but not spectacular. Meanwhile, Bob seems to be much more experienced and know everything the role requires. Frequently, if the manager (or someone on his team) knows Joe and his personality, Joe will get the job even if Bob is more qualified.
People tend to err on giving breaks to people they know. More than that, if they know you’ll be pleasant to work with that is a huge boon. Many candidates who are good on paper or not hired because they seem like they’ll be a problem to work alongside.
14. Start Exercising
Exercising is an important part of any routine. However, gym memberships are expensive, prohibitively so in my opinion. On top of that, going to a gym to exercise has a lot of negatives like the commute, setup time, and the fact that it makes it even harder to stick to a consistent workout schedule. In modern life, with everyone so busy, there is an easier solution – and one that’s far more cost effective to boot. Just build a home gym! Trust me, it tends to pay for itself in the long run.
15. Consume Meaningful Content
The first thing you need to know, and take to heart, is that you need to consume good content. How do you determine if the content is good? It’s simple. If the content is useful to you, then that’s the first half. The second half is if it’s relevant to you and what you want to achieve. When the content is both useful to you as well as truly relevant to your goals, then you’ve found the sweet spot.
I’m sure this sounds simple, easy, and like a lot of common sense. However, in my experience a lot of people miss the mark on this one. It’s simple in theory, but most people lack the execution. I’m not saying it’s impossible, or even particularly hard, but it’s something to be aware of. Just try to work more meaningful content into your general viewing or reading.
16. Stick To A Budget
I’ve talked about budgeting before, especially for beginners. I’ve also written a complete guide that can help you from start to finish. I understand that it can seem like a daunting task at first, but budgeting isn’t that hard – especially if you keep it simple. The main thing you need to focus on is spending less than you make. Once you have that down, everything else will become much easier! So, if you don’t already have a budget, get to it.
Naturally, the point of the budget is to stick to it. So make a budget that helps you reach your financial goals, but one that is also realistic for you to stick to. A budget is pointless if there is no way for you to adhere to it! As long as you spend less than you make, you can start on the path towards financial success.
17. Enjoy The Present
It’s important to enjoy the present. While all this improvement is good, it’s all for naught if you can’t enjoy where you are and the entire process of reaching your goals. Sometimes it’s best to sit back, relax, and just enjoy the moment you’re in. Don’t overthink things to the point that you ruin the fun that comes with life!
18. Cut Sugars And Junk Food
It’s possible your health is perfectly fine. Unfortunately, it won’t stay that way. Do your best to lay the groundwork now, so that you can stay healthy in the future. It’s best to save yourself the trouble later and begin eating healthy now with budget-friendly meals. By starting to pay attention to your health now, you can mitigate a lot of the pain and headache later, and potentially increase your lifespan.
19. Go For A Walk Every Now And Then
It’s light exercise, easy to do, and even easier to fit into your schedule. It may not sound incredibly beneficial, yet it is. Walking daily can help you stay in decent shape and it can help you clear your mind. For those moments where you’re having a hard time figuring out a problem, a walk the perfect way to relax, brainstorm, and figure out the issue at hand.
Walks through the neighborhood or a nearby park are perfect as a frugal pastime. It’s free, after all. Walks are a good way to use your time, and it’s an easier alternative to hiking if you find that to be a bit too much to handle.
20. Just Start Now!
I understand how intimidating it can be to start a new project – whether it’s investing or another source of income. We’ve probably all suffered from procrastination at some point. However, it’s in your best interest to kick that fear to the side and get started now. It’s scary, yes, but it’s better to try and fail than it is to do absolutely nothing! If you hold back now, you’ll end up regretting it later. What are you waiting for? Go start your projects now – get closer to your goals today! There is nothing holding you back, it’s certainly within your power to get closer and make it happen.
Conclusion
Clearly these aren’t all the tricks you can use to keep improving, but they’re certainly a good start. If you have any of your own you’d like to share, please mention them in the comments.
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