Minimalists are usually active in self-improvement. If you weren’t trying to improve your life, you’d just let the clutter build up, spend money without a care, and eat whatever you want. Many people who seek self-improvement also seek the perfect plan to reach their goals. If that’s you, read on.
Are you looking for the perfect plan for self-improvement? Would you like to accomplish any of the following?
- Get up earlier
- Exercise for an hour daily
- Clear your space of all clutter
- Meditate every day
- Spend less money
- Give up your bad habits
- Eat a perfectly-balanced diet
- Go to bed earlier
- Get better sleep
- And more
These are all things many of us would like to improve upon in our lives. The reason I started this blog was to practice and share my experiences with simple living and self-improvement. Along the way, I’ve discovered something…
The Perfect Plan Is Simple
Are you ready for this? I’m going to give it to you straight. THERE IS NO PERFECT PLAN. It’s that simple.
But there is a way to practice self-improvement that actually works. And it all starts with practice.
Self-improvement is like anything else in life. If you want it, you have to practice it. I didn’t learn to play guitar by watching it hang on the wall. I don’t stay in physical shape by watching TV. And I don’t keep my house tidy by buying whatever I want. Everything takes practice.
But no one is perfect. We all give up on some things. We all give into other things. If I had the perfect plan for self-improvement and success, I’d be a millionaire record producer who never eats an ounce of fat and lives in a pristine minimalist mansion. Oh, and I’d be buff… really buff.
Things To Remember On The Road To Self-Improvement
- Don’t try to do too much at once: When you start a new exercise program, what happens if you work out hard for two hours the first day? You get so sore you say, “screw this,” and quit. It’s the same with any kind of self-improvement. The best way to move forward is by taking small steps.
- Pick your battles: Change doesn’t happen overnight. And we have varying levels of discipline and stamina. I can muster up the discipline to write on a regular basis. But I don’t have the stamina to run a marathon this year. That’s okay.
- Accept uncertainty: Life is always changing. You might have planned to cook that perfectly healthy meal tonight. You get a last-minute detail from your kid. “I have a school concert in an hour.” So you eat out… again. That’s life. People change plans. We get sick. Traffic gets backed up. Expect uncertainty and accept it.
- Expect some failure: No matter how hard you try, you won’t succeed at everything you do. That’s just a simple fact of life. The key is to take it easy on yourself when you don’t succeed. You’ll be more willing to try again if you don’t beat yourself up over the last negative experience.
- Don’t quit everything: It’s okay to give up. I quit gardening last year. I kept a garden for three years, but I wasted half of my harvest. It just wasn’t working for me. So I planted a couple of apple trees and grape vines instead. I quit gardening, but I didn’t quit writing. I didn’t quit exercising.
The Perfect Plan Only Exists In Accepting Imperfection
So maybe I lied. Maybe there is a perfect plan. But it only works when we accept our own imperfections. It only works when we accept the imperfections of others. The perfect plan includes uncertainty, failure, and giving up at times.
So are you ready to get started on the perfect plan for self-improvement? I encourage you to just keep moving forward, if only just a little bit each day.
