Melanie DeCastro Improving yourself this New Year
Let’s be real; New Year New Me has not been working for the last few years. Like clockwork, New Years comes around and you are the same person you were the day you said you were going to transform yourself. This year dedicate time to improving yourself.
The thing is we are who we are. Each New Year what we should say is,
“New year, Improved Me”
For starters you are giving who you are credit for the work that they put in the year prior. Simultaneously you are allowing yourself to move forward and make tweaks to better yourself.
Tommy Baker, author of The 1% Rule states that if you are consistently 1% better every single day, it will amount to significant progress over a decade of time.
It’s as though we expect ourselves to have instant change without doing any of the work.
For real change you must work on two things:
- Your Mindset
- Taking Action
Improving Yourself by Shifting your Mindset
Your mind can be an asset or a detriment to who you want to be. Your mind is comfortable in being the version that you are right now.
We are animals of habit and when we do something different from our normal everyday, the brain is not fond of that change.
To adjust your mind to you must train it daily.
Example
You want to learn Portuguese and be able to speak it fluently. First, you can start by telling yourself that you are fluent in Portuguese.
Then listen Portuguese music whenever you can. Listen to it in your car, play it while you are home in the background. Expose yourself to the language as much as possible.
Once you are familiar with the language start teaching yourself the letters and sounds of Portuguese.
Day by day you add on little tasks to yourself to reach your results – speaking fluently in Portuguese.
Improving Yourself by Taking Action
Once you change your mindset your immediate reaction is to take action. You must perform tasks to get to the results you want to see.
What people won’t tell you is that taking action is a mental game. You will fail multiple times until you see real results. What makes a desired result come to fruition is your consistency.
Make your actions non-negotiable. If you set yourself to perform specific tasks, do them. Do not excuse yourself from moving towards your desired goals.
At some point you will reach the point of return. Where your mind tells you ‘this is too hard.’ This is the point where you have to send signals to your brain that says, ‘no, this is easy, it just takes time.’
Example
You want to be fluent in Portuguese, but you are all out of ideas. Taking language courses does not help your fluency in that language. You are lacking conversation skills and get nervous speaking it out loud. What can you do?
- Download a language exchange app where you meet people and exchange English for Portuguese.
- Go to a Brazilian or Portuguese restaurant and see if you can practice with a native speaker.
- Or if you’re as spontaneous as me, you can go to the country for a few days to practice.
Depending where you are on your journey and your circumstances take the necessary actions to reach your desired results.
Into this Year
2023 is our opportunity to be better everyday.
Take this year to define your skills, to get to know yourself. Also do yourself a favor and do the things that put a smile on your face. If you are looking for more guidance on how to focus on yourself read out 15 Day Challenge to get ready for the New Year.
Improvement is a constant cycle of growth, which is exactly where you need to be to embody New Year, Improved Me.
