Let's try together for a better ourselvesTip 1: Focus On A Few Topics — Not Everything At Once. Instead of trying to overhaul your entire life at once, focus on just a few things first. ... Tip 2: Get A Mentor (yt Google. ... Tip 3: Don't Go At It Alone. ... Tip 4: Set Goals (But Not Too Many) ... Tip 5: Realize It's Not Going To Be Smooth.

5 Tips To Start Your Self-Improvement Journey

<figure><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/0*1S4o-0G2pZ0" width="785" height="523"><figcaption class="dx dy cy cw cx dz ea cd b eb cf cg" data-selectable-paragraph="" dir="ltr">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@aloragriffiths?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">Alora Griffiths</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><img alt="Jari Roomer" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/1*huCEDiGwCd1-S8oGHDjxQQ" width="48" height="48">I clearly remember how I discovered the ‘self-help’ section of Amazon. I was filled with enthusiasm, dreams and hope. Hope for a better life than I was living at that moment in time.You see, my life was truly a mess before I discovered self-help. I was stuck in a 9–5 job that I absolutely hated and I was broke as hell because I had a bad gambling addiction. All in all, I was unhappy, stressed out and had no money in my bank account.One day, when I had enough of all my misery, I decided to change it all around. I literally searched ‘How to become successful’ on Google. That’s when I discovered the self-improvement industry, and my life has never been the same since then.Through self-improvement, I’ve been able to build a successful online business, have healthy personal finances and feel much more alive &amp; energized. I’m not saying this to brag — I’m saying this to show you that if I’m able to turn my misfortune around, so are you.However, going on your self-improvement journey isn’t all just as smooth and easy as some may appear it to be…In fact, it can be quite difficult and challenging — and the road is filled with obstacles that you won’t see coming. That’s why, in this article, I’ll share 5 tips on how to approach self-improvement effectively so that won’t set yourself up for failure and frustration.<h2 data-selectable-paragraph="">Tip 1: Focus On A Few Topics — Not Everything At Once</h2>Instead of trying to overhaul your entire life at once, focus on just a few things first. In some cases, it’s even best to focus on just one area first.For example, first you dive deep into <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/this-mindset-shift-will-make-you-4x-better-with-money-c091f5c89316" dir="ltr">personal finances</a> and once you got that under control, you move on to your health. From there, you tackle your relationships and <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/7-simple-ways-to-work-smarter-and-become-more-effective-788f05469470" dir="ltr">productivity</a>.This way, you don’t get overwhelmed and you can direct all of your resources towards successfully changing one area of your life.If you’ve done so, you’ll gain the confidence and momentum necessary to change the next area of your life.<figure><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/0*stNVQo1BSAXHBnvw" width="680" height="455"><figcaption class="dx dy cy cw cx dz ea cd b eb cf cg" data-selectable-paragraph="" dir="ltr">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@helloquence?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">Helloquence</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure>Doing everything at once is likely going to lead to a lack of focus, time and energy — dramatically decreasing your odds of success. When your initial enthusiasm wears off, it can all become quite overwhelming pretty quickly.Thus, pick anywhere from one to three areas of your life and focus on improving that first. Only then move on to improving other areas of your life.Find a few books or courses that help you improve in your chosen area(s). <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/5-simple-tips-to-learn-much-more-from-the-books-you-read-25b738579ae0" dir="ltr">Strategically extract the knowledge out of it</a> and focus on taking massive action and implementation of the gained knowledge.Many people in the self-development world are knowledge-junkies who only like to gather more knowledge but then won’t take real action upon what they know — which creates a false sense of personal development.It’s much better to read 10 books in a year while taking action upon what you’ve learned, compared to reading 30 books without taking action.<h2 data-selectable-paragraph="">Tip 2: Get A Mentor</h2>Find at least one person (whether in real life, online, living or dead) that has achieved what you want to achieve. It could be a colleague, author, influencer or (paid) coach. Study their moves, their material and their words — then make it your own by giving it your unique twist.<figure><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/0*DCMHb5ZGXeVyxsoR" width="680" height="454"><figcaption class="dx dy cy cw cx dz ea cd b eb cf cg" data-selectable-paragraph="" dir="ltr">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@neonbrand?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">NeONBRAND</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure>The right mentor has already walked the path that you want to walk, thus he or she can show you the pitfalls, obstacles and best strategies to succeed. If you try to do it all by yourself, be prepared to make many mistakes, waste a lot of time and encounter many frustrating situations. Rather, get a mentor that can help you short-cut the process.For example, I’ve learned a great deal from guys like Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, Stefan James and Mike Dillard — while I haven’t even met them. Merely through studying their moves and their content, I’ve been able to build a successful business and live a more fulfilling life.In the beginning, hone in on just a few mentors. There are many awesome people out there that you can follow, but it can become overwhelming if you have too many people sharing too many different things.Instead, just pick 1–5 people that you want to follow and truly study them instead of following 50 and consuming just the surface of their content. You need to go deep instead of broad — that’s how you learn the most.<h2 data-selectable-paragraph="">Tip 3: Don’t Go At It Alone</h2>Going on your self-improvement journey on your own can lead to many frustrating and lonely moments. Instead, gather at least one other person <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/why-you-shouldnt-go-on-your-self-improvement-journey-alone-257361ac5237" dir="ltr">to join you on your journey</a>.Do you have any friends, colleagues or family members who are also ambitious or into self-development? If so, talk with them about your moves and learnings. This will help you to minimize falling off-track (which will happen in the beginning, that’s okay) and make the journey a lot more fun!<figure><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/0*344ntwAXXP359oMl" width="680" height="454"><figcaption class="dx dy cy cw cx dz ea cd b eb cf cg" data-selectable-paragraph="" dir="ltr">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@wildlittlethingsphoto?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">Helena Lopes</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure>If you don’t know anyone in your direct environment, look for like-minded people in Facebook groups, the Medium comment section, online forums or send me a message! Even having just one other person to share your progress, findings and struggles with will lead to <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/how-changing-your-environment-is-the-key-to-success-c3f81bd1f14c" dir="ltr">more consistency, motivation and fun</a> — which are all essential ingredients for success.Personally, I’ve created a small three-person mastermind with two of my best friends. We meet on a weekly basis to discuss our goals, progress and latest insights. This has helped me enormously in taking consistent action, improving my business and personal development strategies and have more fun in the process.<h2 data-selectable-paragraph="">Tip 4: Set Goals (But Not Too Many)</h2>We act most effectively when we have a goal to work towards. Not only is <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/how-strategic-daily-goal-setting-is-the-key-to-high-productivity-goal-success-e8ef301a1a0a" dir="ltr">the process of chasing your goals</a> highly motivating, but it also gives you guidance and structure on which you can base your actions. When you’ve set a few goals, you can act upon it with clarity, focus and determination. Your actions are no longer random and unstructured, but focused and intentional.For example, when your goal is to ‘lose 20 pounds by October 2019’, ‘save $10,000 in 2019’ or ‘write a book within 12 months’ you can pick your next best actions much more clearly and effectively compared to not having the guidance of a clear goal.When you set your goals, always make them highly specific, measurable and add a deadline to it. If you don’t do this, it merely remains a vague wish or dream.For example, ‘lose weight’ is a terrible goal. It’s not clear when enough is enough and when you want to achieve it. Instead, make it more specific, measurable and time-sensitive. For example, ‘I want to lose 20 pounds before October 2019’ is a much better goal.<figure><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/0*tAdhGgyn2x6r7WAy" width="680" height="454"><figcaption class="dx dy cy cw cx dz ea cd b eb cf cg" data-selectable-paragraph="" dir="ltr">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@yunmai?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">i yunmai</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure>Furthermore, always include your ‘why’. Why do you want to achieve these goals? How will it make your life better? <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/the-quickest-and-surest-way-to-get-motivated-1d7ea9715c3a" dir="ltr">Knowing your ‘why’ motivates you</a> to an even bigger extent to take massive action.For example, my goal is to earn $50,000 in profit with my online business in 2019. My why for achieving this goal is that I can create freedom, travel the world, make investments and get a nice apartment in Amsterdam.Whenever I feel unmotivated and think about procrastinating, I simply look at my goal and my ‘why’ — and immediately I’m fired up to take action.Be aware to not set too many goals (a mistake that many make). In your enthusiasm, it can become easy to lose yourself in all the options, which leads to spreading your time, attention and energy too thin among too many different areas of your life. Instead, focus your efforts on just a maximum of 3 goals.<h2 data-selectable-paragraph="">Tip 5: Realize It’s Not Going To Be Smooth</h2>You will encounter obstacles, challenges and inner struggles when you’re trying to create anything worthwhile. It’s a necessary part of achieving great things.Especially in the beginning, you will encounter moments in which you’ll be less motivated, have less momentum and be less enthusiastic about self-development. This is something that basically everyone goes through.I always say that these struggles come from the old-self trying to survive and take down the new-and-improved-self. In those cases, refer back to your mentors, accountability partners, goals and your ‘why’.<figure><img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/500/0*MGLAD1TQjv48o5f9" width="680" height="454"><figcaption class="dx dy cy cw cx dz ea cd b eb cf cg" data-selectable-paragraph="" dir="ltr">Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@fodelwdc?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">Fares Hamouche</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&amp;utm_medium=referral" class="cj ec" rel="noopener nofollow" dir="ltr">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure>When you’re changing and improving, you will encounter resistance. Both from the inside and the outside. Whether it’s your ‘old self’ or <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/how-your-self-talk-can-sabotage-your-success-bd473b80c407" dir="ltr">limiting beliefs</a> that hold you back, or your friends and family who feel threatened by your growth &amp; improvement (and the lack of theirs), you will encounter obstacles, challenges and difficult moments.In fact, <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/your-growth-is-defined-by-the-obstacles-you-overcome-514c59bb11f1" dir="ltr">your growth is defined by the obstacles that you overcome</a>. Realizing this beforehand will make it easier to overcome them.Remember, all of the greatest minds on this planet have encountered challenges, obstacles and difficulties. In fact, it has been <a rel="noopener" href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/your-growth-is-defined-by-the-obstacles-you-overcome-514c59bb11f1" dir="ltr">a necessary component of their success</a>.<h2 data-selectable-paragraph="">Now Do It</h2>As I mentioned before, knowing is not enough to change your life — you need to take massive action upon what you know. Therefore, as an action point, follow at least three of these five tips and implement them in your own life.To Your Personal Growth,Jari Roomer

I clearly remember how I discovered the ‘self-help’ section of Amazon. I was filled with enthusiasm, dreams and hope. Hope for a better life than I was living at that moment in time. You see, my life…

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

I clearly remember how I discovered the ‘self-help’ section of Amazon. I was filled with enthusiasm, dreams and hope. Hope for a better life than I was living at that moment in time.

You see, my life was truly a mess before I discovered self-help. I was stuck in a 9–5 job that I absolutely hated and I was broke as hell because I had a bad gambling addiction. All in all, I was unhappy, stressed out and had no money in my bank account.

One day, when I had enough of all my misery, I decided to change it all around. I literally searched ‘How to become successful ’ on Google. That’s when I discovered the self-improvement industry, and my life has never been the same since then.

Through self-improvement, I’ve been able to build a successful online business, have healthy personal finances and feel much more alive & energized. I’m not saying this to brag — I’m saying this to show you that if I’m able to turn my misfortune around, so are you.

However, going on your self-improvement journey isn’t all just as smooth and easy as some may appear it to be…

In fact, it can be quite difficult and challenging — and the road is filled with obstacles that you won’t see coming. That’s why, in this article, I’ll share 5 tips on how to approach self-improvement effectively so that won’t set yourself up for failure and frustration.

Tip 1: Focus On A Few Topics — Not Everything At Once

Instead of trying to overhaul your entire life at once, focus on just a few things first. In some cases, it’s even best to focus on just one area first.

For example, first you dive deep into <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/this-mindset-shift-will-make-you-4x-better-with-money-c091f5c89316">personal finances </a>and once you got that under control, you move on to your health. From there, you tackle your relationships and <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/7-simple-ways-to-work-smarter-and-become-more-effective-788f05469470">productivity </a>.

This way, you don’t get overwhelmed and you can direct all of your resources towards successfully changing one area of your life.

If you’ve done so, you’ll gain the confidence and momentum necessary to change the next area of your life.

Doing everything at once is likely going to lead to a lack of focus, time and energy — dramatically decreasing your odds of success. When your initial enthusiasm wears off, it can all become quite overwhelming pretty quickly.

Thus, pick anywhere from one to three areas of your life and focus on improving that first. Only then move on to improving other areas of your life.

Find a few books or courses that help you improve in your chosen area(s). <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/5-simple-tips-to-learn-much-more-from-the-books-you-read-25b738579ae0">Strategically extract the knowledge out of it </a>and focus on taking massive action and implementation of the gained knowledge.

Many people in the self-development world are knowledge-junkies who only like to gather more knowledge but then won’t take real action upon what they know — which creates a false sense of personal development.

It’s much better to read 10 books in a year while taking action upon what you’ve learned, compared to reading 30 books without taking action.

Find at least one person (whether in real life, online, living or dead ) that has achieved what you want to achieve. It could be a colleague, author, influencer or (paid) coach. Study their moves, their material and their words — then make it your own by giving it your unique twist.

The right mentor has already walked the path that you want to walk, thus he or she can show you the pitfalls, obstacles and best strategies to succeed. If you try to do it all by yourself, be prepared to make many mistakes, waste a lot of time and encounter many frustrating situations. Rather, get a mentor that can help you short-cut the process.

For example, I’ve learned a great deal from guys like Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, Stefan James and Mike Dillard — while I haven’t even met them. Merely through studying their moves and their content, I’ve been able to build a successful business and live a more fulfilling life.

In the beginning, hone in on just a few mentors. There are many awesome people out there that you can follow, but it can become overwhelming if you have too many people sharing too many different things.

Instead, just pick 1–5 people that you want to follow and truly study them instead of following 50 and consuming just the surface of their content. You need to go deep instead of broad — that’s how you learn the most.

Going on your self-improvement journey on your own can lead to many frustrating and lonely moments. Instead, gather at least one other person <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/why-you-shouldnt-go-on-your-self-improvement-journey-alone-257361ac5237">to join you on your journey </a>.

Do you have any friends, colleagues or family members who are also ambitious or into self-development? If so, talk with them about your moves and learnings. This will help you to minimize falling off-track (which will happen in the beginning, that’s okay) and make the journey a lot more fun!

If you don’t know anyone in your direct environment, look for like-minded people in Facebook groups, the Medium comment section, online forums or send me a message! Even having just one other person to share your progress, findings and struggles with will lead to <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/how-changing-your-environment-is-the-key-to-success-c3f81bd1f14c">more consistency, motivation and fun </a>— which are all essential ingredients for success.

Personally, I’ve created a small three-person mastermind with two of my best friends. We meet on a weekly basis to discuss our goals, progress and latest insights. This has helped me enormously in taking consistent action, improving my business and personal development strategies and have more fun in the process.

We act most effectively when we have a goal to work towards. Not only is <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/how-strategic-daily-goal-setting-is-the-key-to-high-productivity-goal-success-e8ef301a1a0a">the process of chasing your goals </a>highly motivating, but it also gives you guidance and structure on which you can base your actions. When you’ve set a few goals, you can act upon it with clarity, focus and determination. Your actions are no longer random and unstructured, but focused and intentional.

For example, when your goal is to ‘lose 20 pounds by October 2019 ’, ‘save $10,000 in 2019 ’ or ‘write a book within 12 months ’ you can pick your next best actions much more clearly and effectively compared to not having the guidance of a clear goal.

When you set your goals, always make them highly specific, measurable and add a deadline to it. If you don’t do this, it merely remains a vague wish or dream.

For example, ‘lose weight ’ is a terrible goal. It’s not clear when enough is enough and when you want to achieve it. Instead, make it more specific, measurable and time-sensitive. For example, ‘I want to lose 20 pounds before October 2019 ’ is a much better goal.

Furthermore, always include your ‘why’. Why do you want to achieve these goals? How will it make your life better? <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/the-quickest-and-surest-way-to-get-motivated-1d7ea9715c3a">Knowing your ‘why’ motivates you </a>to an even bigger extent to take massive action.

For example, my goal is to earn $50,000 in profit with my online business in 2019. My why for achieving this goal is that I can create freedom, travel the world, make investments and get a nice apartment in Amsterdam.

Whenever I feel unmotivated and think about procrastinating, I simply look at my goal and my ‘why’ — and immediately I’m fired up to take action.

Be aware to not set too many goals (a mistake that many make ). In your enthusiasm, it can become easy to lose yourself in all the options, which leads to spreading your time, attention and energy too thin among too many different areas of your life. Instead, focus your efforts on just a maximum of 3 goals.

Tip 5: Realize It’s Not Going To Be Smooth

You will encounter obstacles, challenges and inner struggles when you’re trying to create anything worthwhile. It’s a necessary part of achieving great things.

Especially in the beginning, you will encounter moments in which you’ll be less motivated, have less momentum and be less enthusiastic about self-development. This is something that basically everyone goes through.

I always say that these struggles come from the old-self trying to survive and take down the new-and-improved-self . In those cases, refer back to your mentors, accountability partners, goals and your ‘why’.

When you’re changing and improving, you will encounter resistance. Both from the inside and the outside. Whether it’s your ‘old self’ or <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/how-your-self-talk-can-sabotage-your-success-bd473b80c407">limiting beliefs </a>that hold you back, or your friends and family who feel threatened by your growth & improvement (and the lack of theirs), you will encounter obstacles, challenges and difficult moments.

In fact, <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/your-growth-is-defined-by-the-obstacles-you-overcome-514c59bb11f1">your growth is defined by the obstacles that you overcome </a>. Realizing this beforehand will make it easier to overcome them.

Remember, all of the greatest minds on this planet have encountered challenges, obstacles and difficulties. In fact, it has been <a href="https://medium.com/personal-growth-lab/your-growth-is-defined-by-the-obstacles-you-overcome-514c59bb11f1">a necessary component of their success </a>.

As I mentioned before, knowing is not enough to change your life — you need to take massive action upon what you know. Therefore, as an action point, follow at least three of these five tips and implement them in your own life.

5 Tips To Start Your Self-Improvement Journey

5 Tips To Start Your Self-Improvement Journey

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