Be Smart About Self Improvement

There are things you can do to ensure your success when making self-improvement goals this year. They all have to do with having a positive attitude and positive energy.

Positive influences are those things that we do or say that make us feel good about others or ourselves. Positive influences can shape good personal character. Influences can come from home, church, school, peers, co-workers, friends.

Home

Our parents usually have a major influence on their children. They model behavior for their children to follow, good or bad. As children grew they become more aware of how our parents handle various life situations and good outcomes positively influence their kids to follow in their footsteps. Bad outcomes will cause kids to avoid following in the same footsteps.

The environment we grew up in can have a positive or negative influence on us. A loving, stable home life will provide the kind of positive reinforcements that will enable children to grow up healthy and strong in character. An unstable, or violent home life will have a negative impact on the psyche and ability of kids to mature or cope with situations.

Positive influences from your home, whether that be from your parents or from the home environment help to shape the positive attitudes necessary to feel confident about achieving self-improvement goals.

Peers, co-workers and friends

These people in our lives can create positive influences for us as well. They encourage our efforts at self-improvements. They support us when we fail, or when we get lost along the path. We confide in them, our self-improvement goals and discuss with them how to go about achieving them. We value their input and are uplifted when we receive positive encouragement.

Church

The church environment will positively affect our spiritual and moral character. A lot of our self-improvement goals center on moral issues. Usually these goals involve behavior. Inappropriate behavior can create uncomfortable relationships, or have unhealthy consequences for our bodies. Behavior that may cause us to desire to make self-improvements might be: having multiple sex partners, being involved in crimes of violence etc. Some of our bad habits start when we forget what is good for us and become entrenched in doing what is harmful for our bodies and or our minds. The church can have a positive influence on us to understand how such inappropriate behavior is harming us and others, which leads us to set goals for self-improvement. Positive influences in the church can be found from congregational members, pastors, church programs and in the faith doctrines that are taught and followed by church members.

School

School officials and teachers as well as fellow students can have a positive influence for those who attend the school, as well as the community. Positive influences can come from teacher-pupil relationships, extra-curricular activities, curriculum and the friendships that are fostered in the school environment.

Just like the home, the school environment can have both negative and positive elements depending on the people and factors that exist in the school. The community members can choose to contribute to the school programs through volunteer positions (cafeteria aids, teacher helpers etc.) The community also can have a positive influence through monetary donations that support positive programming in the school.

Children learn values in both the home and school that can affect the choices they make in life; including the choices concerning self-improvement. Positive influences form home and school reinforces the idea that we can succeed at what we set out to do. We learn how to believe in ourselves by the positive reinforcements awarded to us in school and at home when we attempt to accomplish tasks and succeed. Even our failures are opportunities for positive reinforcement and encouragement.

Make Sure You Reach your Goals!

People who find themselves prone to procrastination may set many noble goals, but the problem with putting thing off is that these goals are oftentimes never accomplished. Folks might make goal after goal, but if an effort is never made to complete the goals then self improvement isn't possible. The trick is to define the ultimate goal, figure out what steps need to be taken to reach the goal, and then set about tackling each step systematically until the final goal is met.

The key to setting the types of small goals necessary to reach big goals depend entirely upon what sort of big goal has been set. Many folks decide at some point in their lives that they need to improve their health and get more physically fit. If a healthier body is a person's ultimate goal, then small goals to set might include eating less fatty foods, exercising more, or quitting smoking. If a promotion at work is the ultimate goal, the small goals might be taking some evening college classes, working some overtime, or polishing up a résumé. Obviously, each small goal corresponds and leads to the bigger goal. A person must simply look logically at what sorts of things need to be done in order to reach the eventual goal.

For many people, however, the problem does not lie with figuring out what steps are necessary to reach the big goal - many people have no problems with knowing exactly what needs to be done – the main issue for these people is that they simply can't get motivated to start working towards the goal. A person who is trying to improve his or her social life, for example, may indeed understand that one of the necessary steps is to initiate conversation with people, but if apprehension or procrastination stops the person from doing so then he or she is unlikely to reach the ultimate goal. After all, it isn't very easy to make new friends without talking to people. Certain steps need to be taken to reach certain goals.

So what is the solution? People must decide for themselves that the time is right to begin the methodical process of accomplishing small goals in an attempt to reach a larger goal. One easy way to reach goals is to make the resolution to take one small step each and every day towards the goal. This method breaks down the tasks and makes them seem less daunting. For example, people who have the ultimate goal of saving money might one day skip the gourmet coffee they usually get every morning, and then another day perhaps they make a concerted effort to turn off lights within their home when they aren't in use. Once these small changes become habit, reaching the ultimate goal gets easier and easier. Behavioral changes are necessary to reach many goals, but if the changes are gradual it makes them a lot less painful. The less painful the process, the more likely people are to stick with their efforts.

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