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People talk about their self-growth all the time, but it can feel challenging to understand what that means. Every person is different, so what would that growth look like for you? Use this guide to learn how to transform yourself according to your goals and become the next best version of you. You’ll feel happier, content in your body and on track to reach your dreams.
A personal transformation is any lasting change that creates a changed mindset or habit. This transformation helps you become a better version of yourself, depending on what would make you happy. As you discover how to transform yourself, remember that maintaining a positive mindset and remaining open to introspection are two foundational parts of any self-growth journey.
Self-growth is important because it creates more self-awareness and compassion toward others. As people watch themselves develop into improved versions of themselves throughout their lives, the same research shows they gain:
You’ll have a better relationship with yourself and other people by recognizing your hard work and potential for change. Embrace every positive and challenging moment as you push yourself to grow. You’ll improve your connection with others and yourself because you invested in your personal development.
When you’re ready to discover how to transform yourself, use these steps to create a personalized roadmap. You’ll know how to chart your growth and when you’ve reached your goal because you used these steps to guide yourself through your crucial mental shifts.
Growth isn’t possible to see if you don’t have an end goal. Choose one thing you’d like to accomplish, like feeling more confident when you’re socializing. What’s one thing that will help you do that? Your goal might include saying one positive affirmation before leaving for a social event to boost your self-esteem. It’s actionable, easy to accomplish, and even easier to continue in the long term.
If you don’t want to tackle your mindset, you can always change a habit. What’s one thing you do that isn’t as helpful as it could be? You could decide to drink one cup of water every day to improve your hydration, which might mean reducing your soda or coffee consumption to leave room for your water.
The Pareto principle says that most of a person’s progress comes from 20% of their efforts, so it’s fine if you can’t maintain your small change every day. As you discover how to transform yourself, every tiny effort made to change your chosen habit will build into an automatic instinct with time.
Remember taking exams at the end of the school year in grade school? They may have felt frustrating, but they showed how much you learned throughout the school year. Using a similar tool to track your progress will make it much easier to see.
Grab a journal, open a digital notepad or doodle your daily efforts in a sketchbook. As long as you’re logging your efforts once a week, you’ll quickly see the difference between where you started and where you are at any point in your transformation.
Thought patterns are instinctive. They influence how you view your life each day, so consider if you want to change one that isn’t helpful for your self-growth. Instead of starting the day by thinking, “I don’t want to go to work,” you could reframe that thought as “I’m smart enough to overcome any challenge at work today.”
Thinking more positively even reduces your overall stress, which is another benefit you can use to maintain enough energy for your self-growth journey. It’s much easier to work hard at self transformation when you have extra physical and mental energy.
Your characteristics are how you present yourself to the world. They’re how people see you as someone who’s determined, hard-working, kind or empathetic. Pick a characteristic you want to embody when you finish this phase of your personal growth. It should be something you want to be in all settings, like someone who’s patient.
Challenge yourself to practice that character trait everywhere you go. Write it on a sticky note where you’ll see it at your desk or on your hand if you’re on the go. Every day you practice that new version of yourself, it will become more of a natural instinct. Researchers found that people developed new habits within 30 to 90 days, so you’ll likely have greater long-term success by sticking with this new characteristic.
You might also figure out how to transform yourself after identifying a habit that’s holding you back. Maybe you hit the snooze button too many times in the morning and it makes you late for your responsibilities. Instead of telling yourself you’ll never press snooze again, challenge yourself to only press it twice instead of three times.
After a few days or weeks, press it once a morning instead of twice. Let yourself enjoy gradual change over time. You’ll build better habits and maintain your transformation momentum without feeling stressed.
Is your transformation goal a short- or long-term effort? Making your bed each morning might be a short-term goal, whereas becoming more of a social butterfly would require long-term effort. No matter how you want to change, chart them with timely and appropriate expectations. A realistic deadline will help you put more effort into your self-growth because you won’t feel like you have forever to accomplish it.
Tracking your transformation progress is great, but it won’t help if you don’t look back on your efforts, mistakes and successes. Try to schedule a specific time to open your notes and read through them. Give yourself five minutes to review where you started, what difficulties you’ve overcome and how your mindset or habit has changed since your starting date. You’ll finish these review sessions with more encouragement and motivation.
Now that you know how to transform yourself, pick one way you’d like to grow over the coming months. What would make your life more enjoyable or give you more confidence? Pick that goal, set a realistic timeline for it and create supportive resources to help you along the way, like a progress journal. If you give yourself enough time, you’ll grow into the next best version of yourself without discouragement or stress.
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