6 self-improvement tips to reach your goals

Difficult situations in our lives can lead us to feel defeated. In these cases, it is important that we focus on overcoming this crisis, no matter how big it may seem. Self-improvement is something that depends on you, and not on the circumstances. Even though things don't turn out the way you imagined they would, there is always something to be gained and learned.

In this article we will see some tips for self-improvement that can be really useful when facing a crisis, we also review some concepts related to self-improvement.

• Related article: "Self-improvement through resilience"

Keys to maturing as a person

First, let's look at some fundamental psychological concepts to understand what personal development consists of.

1. The resilience

Resilience is a very recurrent psychological construct in self-improvement advice. Is about the ability that all human beings have to recover from adversity and in turn obtain a profit from said event.

A resilient person, therefore, is capable of bringing out the best of himself in difficult moments and nourishing himself from that experience.

For example, when we go through a couple breakup, when we have lost a loved one, or when we have financial problems, the resilience makes us able to move forward and overcome adequately, having internalized valuable learning from that process.

2. Stoicism

The word stoic refers to the demonstration of our abilities and virtues to get ahead, despite the circumstances that seem adverse. A stoic person, therefore, will not generate added problems when difficulties arise, he will just accept the experience.

Stoics are people who do not shy away from challenges, they look them straight in the face and face them in the best way possible.

It is evident that the Stoic has some resilience, and vice versa. Due to the fact that they are similar concepts, they often tend to be confused, it is important to be clear about the difference between one and the other.

On the one hand, the resilient is a subject who is going through a difficult situation, and has the will to get ahead.

The stoic, on the other hand, you don't necessarily have to be going through any difficult situationHe is simply someone who decides to accept the challenges that are presented to him with the firm conviction that he has the capabilities to overcome the obstacles that these challenges imply.

An example of a resilient person could be one who lives under conditions of poverty, for some reason circumstance, but regardless of it he personally surpasses himself and manages to have a better quality of lifetime.

On the other hand, a good example of a stoic person can be an athlete, who despite having in front of him others with more experience, and theoretically better prepared, he is not afraid to compete against them, because he fully trusts in their abilities personal and does not give in to anxiety.

Keys and tips for self-improvement

Now let's see a list of self-improvement tips that can be very useful to encourage your growth and emotional maturation, and make you a resilient and stoic person.

1. Visualize yourself succeeding

This technique is widely used in therapeutic processes with high performance athletes, and it has very good results. You can use it to get the same results in your daily life.

It consists of taking a few minutes a day, it could be between 10 and 15, to go to a quiet place where you do not have interruptions. Once there, you make yourself comfortable, lying down or sitting down, close your eyes, and begin to visualize yourself achieving your goals.

You must see the whole process, from the moment you start doing what you set out to do, until the moment you get it. This will help you feel more comfortable during the journey you will have to travel to achieve what you are looking for. This is one of the easiest self-improvement tips to apply.

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2. Find out about your goals

Information is a powerful tool to achieve the achievement of our plans. The more and better informed we are about what we intend to achieve, the more likely we are to be successful.

3. Be constant

Consistency is one of the ingredients that cannot be lacking in the recipe for success. If every day we intend to have a winning attitude, there will come a time when it will become part of our personality and everything else will come alone.

Take small steps every day that get you closer to where you want to be. If you have proposed to read a complete book, it does not matter if you read 50 pages a day or if you only read 5 pages, the important thing is that you keep reading daily.

4. Develop your ability to progress

Once you've formed the habit of having a winning attitude and being consistent about what you want to accomplish, it's time to build on these steps.

This means that if you have already achieved the first part of your personal endeavor, it's time to go for the next goal, without staying in your comfort zone. Get to the next level right away and face the challenges.

For example, if you are going to the gym and have already mastered a certain weight, it is time to start increase the weight in a controlled way and perhaps with a little help at first, until you reach a new objective.

5. Develop self-motivation

This aspect, although this last, is one of the most important. Self-motivation is an engine that drives us to success.

Give yourself the necessary encouragement to achieve your goals, do not expect others to always believe in you. If you are supported by the people, that's fine, but you should always keep in mind that you are your biggest driver in this race to success.

A good exercise for this could be, every day when you wake up, look in a mirror and focus on the person you you have in front of you, and then say three positive things about her and tell her that she has the necessary skills to succeed.

6. Learn to take your emotions into account

It is not all about having the objective of reaching specific goals; it is also necessary learn to maintain and enhance one's own mental health and develop the ability to maintain emotional balance.

Otherwise, the demands of the day to day will lead us to a dead end due to wear and tear. psychological, a situation that not only implies having to stop, but can also leave us with physical consequences and mental.

Bibliographic references:

• Goleman, D. (1998). Working with Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
• Padesky, C. TO.; Mooney, K. TO. (2012). Strengths-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy: A Four-Step Model to Build Resilience. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy. 19 (4): 283–290.
• Richardson, G. AND. (2002). The metatheory of resilience and resiliency. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 58 (3): 307–321.
• Vallès, A., & Vallès, C. (2000): Emotional intelligence: Educational applications. Madrid, Editorial EOS.