6 self-improvement tips: Our top methods for improving personal motivation and wellbeing

You don’t have to look very far today to find some guru lecturing their audience on social media about how there’s “no excuse to be waking up later than 5 am”, or why “drinking coffee in the morning is for the weak”, or that “if you can’t do 2-hours of exercise a day you don’t deserve to be successful”. Needless to say, a lot of it is noise that doesn’t appeal to most normal people who aren’t looking to set the world on fire, but simply to improve their personal lives and overall well-being.

In this article, we’re going to take a far more laid-back approach to find personal motivation and how to feel better about life in general. There will be some hard truths in here, but we promise that our top methods for self-improvement are not going to be out of reach. Here’s what you need to know…

1 – Have a painfully honest discussion with yourself about the areas in which need improving

Self-improvement starts with being honest with yourself. After all, how can you possibly get better if you believe that you are already perfect as you are?

Take the time to consider all of the problem areas in your life and be honest about why they might be like that. For example:

• If you are struggling to form long-lasting personal relationships, look inward. Rather than lay the blame on other people, what could you do to improve your chances of making better friends and/or finding love?

This is the first and most crucial step. If you can make a list of your problem areas, it’s much easier to start building a plan for self-improvement.

2 – Improve your diet; it all starts in the kitchen

The first major change you should make if you really want to improve your life is in the kitchen. What does your weekly grocery shop look like? Are you cooking plenty of delicious wholesome foods or are you living on takeout food?

If you have no energy, you are overweight, you don’t like the way you look, and you have very little money because you keep wasting it on junk food, the best thing that you can do is create a diet plan.

Bear in mind, you don’t have to give up junk food entirely. There’s plenty of room in your diet for the occasional takeaway pizza, chocolate bar, and fizzy drink. The key is finding the right balance.

There are plenty of apps that you can find online to help you with this.

3 – Get the minimum amount of recommended exercise (at the very least)

You should be getting a minimum of 30 minutes of decent exercise every day. This could be a long walk, a jog, or some callisthenics exercises at home.

Remember, you don’t have to pay a monthly gym membership or hire a personal trainer to start getting enough exercise.

If you feel anxious and wish to start at home, you’ll find so many different YouTube tutorials and apps that can teach you everything you need to know to get some excellent fitness in.

You’ll be amazed by how much your life will improve if you get 30 minutes to an hour of exercise every day – especially if you are working on a balanced diet at the same time.

At the least, make sure you get some sunlight every day. Even if you sit outside for 15 minutes or take a brisk walk around the block.

4 – Limit your alcohol intake and give up smoking

While giving up alcohol and cigarettes entirely is arguably the greatest lifestyle hack that you can make, it might not appeal to everyone.

Perhaps you enjoy a bottle of wine with friends or a few pints after work. The fact is, you can enjoy a healthy life if you manage your alcohol intake appropriately.

Do you need to drink every night? Why not start by limiting your alcohol consumption to 1 or 2 evenings a week?

And if you can’t see yourself giving up smoking entirely, perhaps cut down from 20 a day to 2 or 3.

Once you notice how amazing you feel with less smoking and drinking, cutting them out for good will be so much easier.

5 – Invest in quality self-improvement equipment

You can start by building a home gym for yourself. Pick up a yoga mat and some dumbbells. Start with basic equipment and then grow from there as you can afford to. Before long, you can have a fully-kitted gym in your own home without having to pay hefty monthly memberships.

You could also look at buying things like a smoothie maker. Eating fruit and veg might not be so appealing, but blending delicious smoothies is a great (and convenient) way to get your recommended daily intake.

Want to get fit and keep track of your progress? What about buying a Fitbit?

And if you really want to take it to the next level and buy a 1-person infrared sauna; these boast some incredible mental and physical health benefits and can be transformative for your daily routine.

6 – Start a new hobby

Be honest; do you have any hobbies besides watching television? How do you spend your downtime when you aren’t working or spending time with other people?

Starting a new hobby is arguably one of the greatest self-improvement hacks available. Not only can a new hobby give your life a whole new sense of purpose, but it can improve your mental and physical well-being while you are at it.

• Read books
• Start painting
• Do yoga
• Go fishing
• Start a martial art
• Write poetry
• Try blacksmithing
• Go climbing
• Make jewellery
• Pick up an instrument

There are so many amazing things that you can try and as you feel yourself progress and improve, you’ll be rewarded with an amazing sense of achievement. And who knows? It could end up leading to a whole new career path that you never thought possible.

Final thoughts

These are just a handful of the things that you can do to drastically change your life – and each of them are quite simple really:

• Be honest about your troubles and which behaviour could be causing them
• Make a diet plan and eat healthier foods (without neglecting to treat yourself)
• Drink more water
• Get at least 30-minutes to an hour of exercise every day
• Get a daily dose of sunshine
• Limit your alcohol intake and/or cut out smoking
• Invest in self-improvement equipment (e.g., Fitbits, 1-man saunas, etc.).
• Start a new hobby.

The aim? Be better every single day. Do that little bit extra and slowly replace your bad habits. If you commit yourself to change, in a matter of months you won’t be able to recognise yourself!