When bettering yourself, you must focus both on what is best for you and what will be of benefit to those around you. Balance is important between self-esteem and reputation, so keep in mind what you’d like to think of yourself and what others think of you. We’ve provided you with some ideas on how to grow as a person below, that we think will help you with this balance.

Inspiration is critical to self-improvement. We can be inspired by books, ideas or historical figures. We can also look to living role models in our own lives to show us a path toward self-improvement, happiness, purpose and success. By looking outside and above our circumstances, we give ourselves a high goal to strive for, as well as an example of someone (a role model) who actually accomplished such great dreams.

Work on discovering your personal strengths. Try making a list of the ones you know and try making a list of your weaknesses that hold you back from being the strong person that you think you are or could be. Even opinions from others, like friends or family, can give you some insight on how to better yourself.

Develop a sense of urgency. When you are trying to improve any aspect of your life, procrastination is your worst enemy. The longer you wait to get started on a task, the less likely that task is going to get done. The first step is always the hardest; once you get started, you will surprise yourself with what you can accomplish.

Personal development can be stressful, since it presents many challenges as you’re looking to change old habits. Try to minimize stress in your life during this period. Minimizing stress can prevent overreacting to stressors. This will make every obstacle more likely to be an eventual success, since overreacting makes us more susceptible to missteps.

Mood management can be one of the toughest goals to accomplish, but it’s not impossible. The first step is realizing that your moods are not always your own fault. A lot of the time, they occur, due to the actions and words of other people or the situation around you. As soon as you realize that you are allowed to have moods and that you don’t have to turn them off simply because others want you to, is the moment that you will slowly be able to start focusing on them and being able to choose the mood that you wish to be in.

Ask your friends and family for honest, positive feedback on your character. Earnestly requesting feedback is much different from simply fishing for compliments. Explain that you need help discovering things about yourself that make you a good friend, or what you could work on to become a more reliable and supportive friend.

When you take all of this into consideration, remember that you are the most important person in your life, so you have to impress yourself before you impress others. Growing as a human being is an amazing thing to do, bringing yourself great enlightenment and self-worth. We wish you great happiness on your journey!