21 Ways to Increase Personal Growth | The 4 Pillars for Success
Some people seem to be born with all the talent and charisma in the world, while others have to work a little bit harder for it. No matter where you fall on the spectrum, there are always ways to improve yourself and increase your personal growth.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss four essential pillars for success and give you some specific ways to grow as a person.
What does personal growth mean?
Personal growth is often seen as a process of becoming more aware of oneself and making positive changes in one’s life. For some, it may be about developing new skills or abilities. For others, it may be about overcoming personal challenges or expanding their horizon.
Ultimately, personal growth is about becoming the best version of yourself. It’s about having a positive mindset and taking experimental learning opportunities. It’s about continuing to grow and develop as a person, even when times are tough.
Personal growth is an ongoing journey that can lead to greater self-awareness, personal fulfillment, and a more fulfilling life. It is about taking risks, challenging oneself, and expanding one’s horizons. It is an exciting and rewarding process that can help us to reach our full potential.
The 4 Pillars for Success
There are many factors and areas of our lives we want to improve. But ultimately there are 4 main ones that you can focus on to give you a great start and foundation. (These aren’t in any particular order)
Health and Fitness
You probably have heard the saying “health is wealth”, and that’s because it is. Your physical health is a pillar that will keep you alive and functional. Many of us will neglect this pillar, but it’s always important to keep our physical activity up and running.
Now you don’t have to be a superstar-level athlete to be in shape. Create a simple exercise routine and try to eat healthily as best you can. For tips on getting your health in check, you can check out our article on 9 ways to get healthy and stay healthy.
Habits
Your habits play a vital part in where your future self will be. The things do every day are the building blocks for personal development. When it comes to personal growth, habits can be a powerful tool. That’s because they provide a framework for our thought processes and help to shape our behavior.
When we develop positive habits, we are more likely to take actions that support our goals and lead to personal improvement. On the other hand, bad habits can hold us back and prevent us from reaching our full potential.
Therefore, it is essential to develop healthy habits and break bad habits if we want to improve our personal growth. By doing so, we can create a foundation for success and set ourselves up for a lifetime of growth and development.
Finance
Most people don’t think about finance when they are young. They spend money without thinking about it and don’t worry about the future. However, finance is one of the most important things to think about when you are young.
That’s because it can help you achieve your goals and accomplish things that you might not be able to do otherwise. For example, if you want to go to college or buy a house, you will need to save money and make sure that you have the funds available to do so.
Finance can help you do that. It can also help you stay out of debt and make smarter choices with your money. So if you want to achieve personal growth, start thinking about finance now. It could make all the difference in your future.
Goals
Setting goals is important for personal growth because it helps you focus on what you want to achieve. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and lose sight of your long-term goals, but if you have specific goals in mind, it’s easier to stay on track.
In addition, setting goals gives you something to strive for and motivates you to keep improving yourself. Self-growth is an ongoing process, and setting goals is a great way to measure your progress.
As you achieve your goals, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, which will spur you on to set new goals and continue growing.
So if you’re looking to improve yourself, start by setting some clear and achievable goals.
Honorable Mention: Mental Health
Mental health is very important. Just as physical health is essential for the body, mental health is essential for the mind. Mental health includes our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. When we are mentally healthy, we feel good about ourselves and our lives.
We can handle life’s challenges, cope with stress, and make positive choices. Mental health is important for personal growth because it helps us to understand and express our emotions. It also allows us to see things from a different perspective, set boundaries, and take risks. It is helpful to step outside of our comfort zone and explore new things.
When we challenge ourselves mentally, we can grow and develop in positive ways. I didn’t include this as a pillar simply because while you grow and improve the other 4 pillars, your mental health naturally improves.
When you have your finances in check, you’re healthy, carry good habits and continue to strive and accomplish goals, you’ll notice just how great your mental health will be.
What are some self-improvement ideas?
1. Read books
Reading is great for expanding your knowledge and many use it for self-time and as a form of meditation.
2. Go to therapy
If you feel like you need a professional or something is going on in your life that you just can’t quite solve, therapy can be great for getting to the bottom of it. It can give you a new perspective or open your eyes to something you never realized.
3. Practice being more mindful
Being mindful is becoming more aware and conscious about yourself or the things around you. So take a step back to explore areas of your life where you might be able to improve.
4. Spend time with positive people
Spending time with positive people is great. When you’re surrounded by individuals that have a positive outlook on life, you’ll realize you’re capable of much more than you think. People you spend time with often have a big impact on your life, so choose wisely.
5. Get a mentor
A mentor is good for accomplishing goals you want to achieve. With a mentor, they can give you direct correlated advice and information to get you to where you want to be. It’s great to find a mentor who has done something that you want to achieve.
6. Set goals and work towards them
The first step to reaching goals is to set them. Find a direction you want to take and build the skill or skills to get there. It’s essential to start and keep moving forward.
7. Be open to change
As much as we may not enjoy it, change is inevitable. It’s the core of self-improvement and self-development. If we aren’t changing, then there’s no progress. Embrace change and be ready for it if you want to change your life for the better.
8. Practice patient
We often like to get things right away due to our lack of patience. If things were easy and quick, then the value of it becomes less and less. Practice enjoying the process and taking baby steps towards your goals as daily practices.
9. Practice self-compassion
There’s nothing wrong with setting high standards for ourselves to grow as a person. But there is a point where it can become unhealthy and have negative effects on us. Identify and be mindful about what areas you might be hard on yourself about.
10. Create an exercise routine
Depending on your physical goals, explore ways to work out. Many of us don’t have the ambition to be professional-level athletes. So your routine doesn’t have to be anything crazy. Find what you enjoy and can be consistent with that gives you enough physical challenge to continue to grow.
11. Get enough sleep
Getting some shut-eye is important for having energy throughout your day. There are plenty of negative effects if you aren’t getting enough sleep each night and ultimately it can show in your work.
12. Eat healthy foods
There are plenty of benefits to eating healthy. Physically, you’ll feel much better and carry much higher energy levels when you eat healthily. Slowly try to eliminate bad foods from your diet and create a lifestyle around what you eat. The more you think of eating healthy as a diet, the less likely you’ll be to stick to it.
13. Try Meditating
Meditation is a powerful tool to clear your mind or unlock it. Simple breathing techniques can help take you away from your workspace, troubles, or whatever may be stressing you out. So practice clearing your mind or diving deeper into it.
14. Take breaks when you need them
Burning out is real. We often spend the most time overworking ourselves and getting caught up with our work. It’s good to take a break once in a while to clear your head or even get some inspiration for when we do get back to it.
15. Connect with nature
Go outside for once. It’s nice to feel the breeze and breathe in the fresh air. From personal experience, it can give you a new perspective on life and enjoy the littlest things.
16. Learn something new every day
Take an online course, learn a new language, and find a new thought process. There’s always something to learn. As you learn, it can reveal blind spots to things you’ve been working toward or you’ll find skills or a skill set to help you get better.
17. Find a creative outlet
Not everyone wants to be the next Picasso or Van Gogh. But it does help to identify ways you can let your creative self come alive. Maybe it’s painting, drawing, or even sports. There are tons of new ideas you can practice or look into to let yourself be creative and let your imagination run wild.
18. Be grateful for what you have
Many of us forget just how fortunate we may be. At the end of the day, there will always be someone who has it better than you or worse than you. So enjoy what it is that you have and be grateful you still have them. This could be people in your life, a roof over your head, or even a bed to sleep on.
19. Help others whenever you can
Helping others is a great feeling. You not only assist them and help accomplish what they need help with, but you feel great after. Building up the people around you will not only help them, but it can boost the energy around you. So lend a hand once in a while regardless if you know the person or not.
20. Live in the present moment
It’s good to have hard work and dedication towards your goals and future. But if we continually live in the future, then we really aren’t living at all. Try to focus more on the now because before you know it, it can be gone.
21. Listen to a podcast
Podcasts are great if you want something to listen to in the background of your life. Whether you’re working out or doing errands, you can replace some music time with listening to some great podcasts to learn something new. It’s also great if you don’t like reading.
Final Thoughts
So, what are you waiting for? Get started on your journey to personal growth and success. Remember, growing and achieving success is a process – it doesn’t happen overnight. But if you put in the work and stay focused, you can reach any goal you set for yourself.
What are you going to do today that will move you closer to your ultimate goal? Start small and take action – that’s the key to making progress. We believe in you!
