Invest in Yourself for a BETTER Future — 7 Ways.
Built on 5 years of experience.
Five years ago, I embarked on a life-changing journey into self-improvement.
With each passing day of discovering countless ways to try and become the best version of me, I have come across a hand full of methods which I would recommend as the foundation to becoming the best version of yourself.
It’s been half a decade…
After gaining a catalogue of experience which takes YEARS of trial and error to gain, I will be sharing the 7 most effective ways to improve your life for a better future.
I hope this gives you the head start I never had. Do with it what you wish.
Something to bear in mind before we start:
It’s important to acknowledge that we have flaws and bad habits. It is also important that we do not see these as a sign of something inherently ‘wrong’ within us, but instead view them as opportunities to become better versions of ourselves.
We should focus on our development and growth, instead of comparing ourselves to and competing with others.
You should aim to make yourself an individual of substance. The best version of yourself.
Your only competition is who you were yesterday and what you do about that today.
It doesn’t matter what your friends or family are doing at this moment, career OR skill-wise. You are not on the same path, nor are you after the same goals.
You are your only competitor. You are your only adversary…
1. Take a course in something that interests you.
Several years ago, I took up an online course in BSL (British Sign Language) to learn new things and fill up my spare time with something productive rather than playing video games.
This wasn’t rewarding at first, however, I thought it would be better to start a skill now and have something to show in a few years.
If I carried on with my old habits, I would have nothing to show in 3 years except for a save on a games console. Nothing of substance that can be used in the real world.
Now from my continued efforts, I have another language under my belt.
Since then, I have started learning other languages and while it is hard, and sometimes difficult to maintain, I am confident that although I am making slow progress, I am laying down the groundwork for the future.
You don’t have to learn languages though, find a hobby or skill that interests you and start today.
Maybe you want to learn to rollerblade? code? Or learn mixed martial arts?
Whatever it is, the best time to start is now and use what you have at your fingertips. The internet is a fountain of knowledge.
You don’t have to have a whole plan yet, just piece it together as you go along.
You’ll figure it out.
2. Invest in your physical health.
Investing in your physical health is life-changing. Literally.
It may sound like a bit of an overstatement, but this is the difference between you living an extra 7 years or not.
When I was 15 I made a pivotal point in my life to commit to going to the gym.
You may think that at such a young age one can’t make ‘life-changing’ decisions.
However, doing so and going consistently has enabled me to cultivate a strong mindset to build discipline which has been the foundation of other good habits.
I could have chosen to give up at any point and never looked back. Discipline kept me going.
If you can build the discipline to do a regular exercise routine that works for you, you can change the trajectory of your life.
Doing exercise regularly doesn’t just keep you in shape, it can change your internal body health for the better by increasing blood flow, working muscles and clearing arteries all of which extended your life.
3. Take a class or workshop.
A few months ago, I attended a course to do with behind-the-scenes television.
It took you through the different roles involved, gave you master classes and a placement for first-hand experience to top it off.
I saw it advertised online and I applied. Although I didn’t feel as if the interview went well, to my surprise, I got in.
The course wasn’t anything that I thought it would be like, however, I would have never known if I didn’t apply. Something beneficial is that I gained experience.
Find a topic that interests you and search it online. Try to find a short course/ workshop related to it.
Attending these courses will help build your understanding of the topic further, give you experience, build your confidence as you are being put into new situations and help with networking as you meet new people.
You may not like it, however, you’ll know that topic is a path you don’t want to pursue anymore so you can focus efforts elsewhere.
4. Read books, listen to podcasts
When I first started on my journey of self-development I watched YouTube videos. I read books. I listened to podcasts.
I got recommendations online and through friends and family on what could help, what to watch and what to read.
All of this was to increase my knowledge. To make me a better person.
After several months of effort on this small habit effort, it started to compound, and it got more noticeable as the years went by.
I was reading and speaking more fluently from the material that I was reading, I was eliminating bad habits to make room for good ones, and I was gaining a new perspective on topics familiar and foreign to me.
Reading books, watching videos or listening to podcasts that interest you on topics to do with self-development; whether this be physical health, mental health or building good habits will all make you into the person you wish to become.
The two most helpful books I found were ‘on confidence’ by the School of Life, as this sent my confidence in day-to-day activities through the roof. It had given me a new perspective on what it was really like to be confident and how confident people really are.
The second book was ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield. This book altered the trajectory of my life. It provides you with a different shift in mindset when it came to working towards goals and staying disciplined even when your mind is working against you.
Having specific, vast information on areas you need to improve on is the foundation for becoming the best version of yourself. I need to improve my confidence and discipline, so I found books specific to these topics.
Head to the bookstore, search on YouTube or listen on Spotify. It doesn’t matter what method you choose, just start today. Take action.
It’s up to you to decide if you are going to change your life, no one else will do it for you.
5. Invest in your mental health
There are two main ways to improve your mental health.
One is through exercise (as mentioned earlier). As this improves your mood and cognitive ability. I wrote an article previously on how exercise improves your mind which I will link here.
“A strong body is a strong mind”
The other way is through meditation.
As of writing this, I have meditated 1,171 days back-to-back. The reason why I have maintained this habit for over 3 years is not just because of discipline, it’s because I can feel the benefits in my life.
When I used to miss days before this I would know. If I was in a tough situation or under pressure I would feel stressed, impatient and irrational.
This was all subconscious though; I wouldn’t do this deliberately. But when I started meditating these behaviours were reduced and then it got to a point where it wouldn’t even happen at all.
Yes, it took a while to get the day-to-day consistency, but if you can’t maintain that, even every other day is fine.
Looking after your mind and providing it with the same level of care that you should be providing your body with is essential.
Don’t just ‘rest’ on the sofa while watching TV. Take time to turn away from screens to provide your mind with rest.
I started with an app called Headspace to help me learn the habit and build up consistency.
Find something that helps you and stick with it.
6. Healthy eating.
A few years ago I decided to cut out fast food.
I try only to eat vegetables, fruit and fish. Sometimes I will occasionally have chicken or beef.
Since doing this I have tried a couple of times to have fast food, however, this has made a sick.
When your body stops eating crap food that is not meant for human consumption, your body can’t take it anymore.
When you try eating it, you’ll find that your body will reject it.
Give it a try for a few weeks and you’ll find that you can literally taste the chemicals in the food.
Cut out fast food, frozen food, microwave meals, bread (unless it’s homemade), and foods with refined sugars for a month. Then try going back to that old lifestyle and you’ll see the results.
People think that if they cut out all this food they will have nothing to eat. Humans have survived for hundreds of thousands of years without this stuff. These foods have only been on the rise in the last 100 years. Humans have survived for over 100,000 years.
There is a whole plethora of food to eat. Think of all the vegetables, fruit, nuts, lentils, meats and poultry you can try. All the spices and seasoning.
The main problem isn’t that people wouldn’t have food to eat if they stopped this food, it’s that they don’t have the knowledge to put together a good meal.
Try searching up recipes online, improvising or getting cooking classes.
Eating healthier can reduce your risk of illness and improve your overall body health.
A step up from this is eating organic. It’s even better for your body as the fruit and vegetables aren’t sprayed with chemicals like the inorganic stuff.
I understand that everyone may not have the finances to eat healthily, but if you buy things like cigarettes, alcohol, or any of the junk food I listed above, just swap these things. Try breaking old habits that have been instilled in you for years.
I won’t give a lecture on what diets try as everyone’s body is different and has different preferences but making these food changes will improve your life.
Yes, it may be hard to quit things like sugar, as it has been said to be more addictive than cocaine, but if you start now, your body will thank you later.
“Fall seven times, get up eight” — Chinese proverb.
7. Quality of sleep.
The final step towards investing in yourself is improving your sleep.
You can do this through several different avenues:
Improving the time at which you go to sleep (trying to keep a regular schedule and avoiding late nights)
By getting into a regular sleep routine, you allow your body clock to readjust and get set into your routine. This will allow you to not only get other areas of your life into a daily routine and will also help you with getting up in the morning.
If you started waking up at the same time every day, eventually you wouldn’t need an alarm as your body would know when to get up.
It’s important that you wake up at the same time even if you have had a late night to stay in the routine. The way to catch up on the sleep is to try and go to sleep earlier, not sleep in later.
The next way is to improve the quality of your sleep you get by avoiding things which harm your sleep such as caffeine and screens/ blue light before bed as these mess with your body’s circadian rhythm, alcohol before bed as well as eating too much. Regular exercise has also been shown to help, as well as meditation and diet.
Improve the amount of sleep that you get — if you are getting less than 6 hours of sleep a night, it should be your primary goal to get 6 hours or more (probably closer to 7.5/8).
It has been shown to increase cancer risk by up to 60% and also increase the risk of other health problems such as Dementia, Heart disease, Diabetes and Obesity.
While sleep may seem ‘time-consuming’, you should bear in mind that lack of sleep can lead to serious illness and even death.
Instead of neglecting your sleep when you have more stuff to do, get rid of the time that you waste throughout the day.
Have you sat and watched Netflix today? Been on social media? Played video games?
We’ll get rid of these to free up more time, not your sleep.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about sleep and the steps I took to change my routine that I’ll link here.
Conclusion:
Whether you want to follow this advice or not, you’ll find that when embarking on your journey of self-development, you will come across having to improve all these points sooner or later.
The last recommendation that I could make is to build these methods up slowly and take them on one at a time.
Don’t find yourself getting overwhelmed and giving up because you tried doing all 7 at once. You’ve still got time, just pace yourself.
Thank you for taking the time to read my article. If you found it helpful and think someone else could find it helpful too, please share it and 👏🏽👏🏽.
A writer mainly on self-development. I occasionally write on personal experiences, interest and other topics too. If you are interested in self-development, then please read some of my other articles (linked below). Enjoy.
