16 Ways To Improve Yourself in 6 Months and Experience 100X Results In Your Life
I'm going to get straight to the point here. We all want to be better (or at least I hope we all do).
It can be extremely overwhelming at times where we need to start in order to build momentum and progress with improving ourselves.
Below are 16 traits, practices and rituals I have applied to my life and seen a drastic improvement in reaching my own goals and overcoming the obstacles that come along.
Keep track of your poop.
If you are using a few handfuls of toilet paper, maybe it’s time to alter your diet.
We’re all looking for those one-wipe glories.
When you’re diet changes for the better, so do you.
Exercise at least twice a week.
Break a hard sweat when you do. Start off small. Two times a week is easy.
If you go into this routine expecting to lose considerable weight after grinding for 5 days you will become discouraged and lose the consistency.
Introduce yourself to countless people.
Make your voice heard. If you want to become a better overall individual in the next six months you need to put yourself in front of a considerable amount of people.
Ask for help.
You cannot solve every problem in your life. Far from it, actually. If you want to progress and improve faster in your life, you are going to need to ask for help and use the help as a catalyst.
Compete with and beat yourself.
In terms of your finances, health, relationship goals etc, where are you today?
Where do you want to be in 6 months?
Where do you want to be in 3 months?
In one month?
In one week?
Tomorrow?
Break down your daily battles and beat yourself everyday.
If you forecast simply over the year you may get overwhelmed and fail at the goal. Today you have the change to overcome the battle, however.
Stop binge drinking on the weekends.
If you want to better yourself, you are going to need to use your days off as days of work.
When you go out to the local bar with coworkers on Friday, you set yourself up to fail on Saturday.
This will help with point 1 (see above) as well. You will lose weight, get better sleep and reduce some anxiety when you reduce your drinking.
Read classic literature.
Siddhartha
The Stranger
100 Years of Solitude
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Meditations
Letters to a Stoic
A Man’s Search For Meaning
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
The Alchemist
The War of Art.
Find your suit of armor.
Sometimes, we need to project to the world that we are confident, before we can intrinsically feel it.
What does this mean? Well, what haircut do you have? What clothing are you wearing? What is your hygiene like?
This isn’t an invitation to vanity, it’s an invitation to looking and feeling good about yourself.
Pay off your debt.
Or resist it.
I’m going to be pragmatic here- if you are in copious amounts of debt (due to college for instance) it’s infeasible to pay off debt in 6 months.
Perhaps, you can manage the debt then, however. If you are credit card debt, work to paying it off. Being at square one is better than a negative square.
Keep a journal.
Actually define, in writing, where you presently are, where you were and where you are going.
It’s nice to say, “I want to lose 15 pounds in 6 months” or “I want to gross $5,000 in my side hustle in the next 6 months” but if you aren’t benchmarking your progress, where are you going?
A lot of the time, we are really walking in place when we think we’re going forward. Journaling allows you to see where you came from and where you’re still going.
Ask your close network how you can get better.
Streamline your growth. While it’s hard (our ego hates this) ask your boss how you can be better at [blank].
Ask your lover how you can be better at [blank]. Ask your friends, ask your parents, ask the people you trust that will give you a straight forward answer that possible you wouldn’t have been able to see.
Follow your muse.
We all have that voice inside of us that makes us tick. Sometimes the voice is dreaming of being an actor.
Maybe you like to write.
Maybe you like creating code.
Maybe you like helping people.
Sometimes we live in shadow careers that don’t typically align with our voice. Take up hobbies or side projects that help align that voice in your head.
Engage in the uncomfortable conversation.
Talking about the big game or your friend’s new blouse or the weather is easy.
It’s also stupid.
You don’t learn anything about yourself or the other people around you. If you want to grow in the next six months, talk to the people about their fears and their dreams.
Ask people what they are passionate about.
Define and stick to a goal.
Probably the most in depth and hardest to adhere to.
This requires really defining what you want to do and drawing up a timeline in getting there.
This isn’t “I want to improve my health” this is “I want to lose 15 pounds in 6 months, I will do that by going to the gym twice a week. At the gym I will run for 15 minutes and do 30 minutes of HIIT afterwards. I am going to completely cut out Doritos from my diet even though I absolutely love Spicy Nacho Doritos”
It isn’t “I want to make more money” it is “I want to pay off my rent every month with a side hustle.
To do that, I will go thrift shopping for re-sellable clothing that I will ‘flip’ on eBay and Etsy. I will make sure to resell my flipped clothing with at least a 40% markup”
Don’t beat yourself up when you fail.
6 months is both a long time and an incredibly short time.
When you make mistakes on the daily level, it can seem like you’ll never achieve your 6 month goal.
Once you start grinding and overcoming obstacles on the regular, 6 months will scream by. When you fall over, learn from the mistake and get right back on the horse. Don’t lose your drive.
Eliminate the parasites from your life.
There are people in your life that will help bring you up. They will push you along this journey and offer their support in whatever way they can. Then there are the parasites.
The people that hold you back due to a reflection of their own short comings. This could be friends, family, coworkers etc.
Whenever you can, keep these people out of your life. Sometimes, these people don’t realize what they’re doing. It’s your responsibility to see it and make the necessary change.
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