I’ve learned a variety of different skills in my life. Some of them were fairly easy and took little effort, while others required years of practice before I felt comfortable with them. Since most of these have been physical skills, it’s been easy to see and feel the progress over time. I can feel a juggling pattern get easier and more natural, notice how swing dancing has gradually required less conscious effort, see the time it’s taken me to solve a Rubik’s Cube steadily decrease over the years, and so on. When it comes to self-improvement, though, I find it more difficult to remind myself of my progress than I do with physical skills. Thinking of self-improvement as just another skill at which I can improve over time has helped me a lot.
When I think about any area of my life, I’m reminded of how much better each one is now than it used to be. Everything from my finances to how I interact with other people to how I take care of myself has improved significantly over the past year. This isn’t always easy to remember when I’m feeling stressed, though. That’s when I tend to forget my progress and fall back into old, negative mindsets and habits. Reminding myself how far I’ve come encourages me to keep going during the difficult times. I’ve started making extra efforts to do this when I first start feeling negative, which often gives me just the right boost to stop the negativity in its tracks before it has a chance to take root and drag me down.
Taking note of my progress has also helped me see where my efforts could be improved. I’ve made more progress in some areas than others, so being aware of my standing shows me where I’m doing ok and where I need to devote more attention. This doesn’t mean thinking badly of myself for falling short in these areas, which is something I used to do a lot more than I do now. It simply means acknowledging that I’ve made a lot of progress in every area, that I still have room for improvement, and that I can and will do better.
My view of self-improvement has changed a lot over time. I originally saw it as something that other people can do but I couldn’t and now I see it as something at which I can make continual progress as long as I continue working on it properly. Like every other skill, sometimes I make a lot of progress and sometimes I make very little, and there are occasional lapses where I feel like I’ve regressed. At this point, though, I’ve learned enough life hacks to keep me mostly on a good path and get me back on track when I lose my way. I’m going to continue tracking my progress so that I can keep in mind how much I’ve improved and use it as motivation to go even further in the future.