Self Improvement Tips and Videos

You are reading this information for a reason and part of you is likely curious and interested in learning and implementing effective strategies for making sustained personal changes and pushing yourself to new levels of achievement and fulfillment. First, after spending over a decade immersing myself in learning about various self improvement strategies I realize that knowledge is not power but application of useful knowledge can be incredibly powerful in creating lasting and profound changes in your life, relationships, health and vitality; as well as your career or mission and your finances. I've decided to share some of the self improvement guidelines, starting with simple but incredibly useful self improvement tips. I will continue adding more ideas that will add value to your life. My ideas have been influenced by various authors, speakers, coaches, such as Tony Robbins, John Gottman, Christopher Howard, Victor Frankl, and by fields of personal change such as Neuro Linguistic Programming, Positive Psychology, and the field of Stress and Coping.

Recognize that Your Potential is Unlimited Regardless of your Current Situation  

You may have heard the truth that regardless of your current or past setbacks you have the potential to accomplish much more than you thought possible and to experience fulfillment. The access to the boundless potential is through the pathways of your mindset. Some people, based on their past, have learned to believe that they cannot be successful or happy because "they or their situation is different" or that they have "tried everything". Consequently, accepting such limiting beliefs traps and prevents them from fully using their gifts and abilities and developing positive strategies.

One way to recognize your real potential is to learn about people who had horrible experiences and were initialy distressed but made it through and managed to experience success and fulfillment by changing their mindset and strategies. They managed to access the potential that was always there, just as you always have that potential.

Watch the following video of Nick Vujicic, an inspirational individual who has seemingly irresolvable handicaps. He experienced deep sense of hopelessness but was able to make a phenomenal changes in his life by changing his mindset and strategies.

Create Passionate Mission and Vision Statements 

Creating mission and vision statements can increase your passion and enthusiasm of making positive changes and continue growing and contributing to your own and others lives. Mission statements can remind you at a deeper level of what life or areas of your life are really about. The process helps you get aligned with your profound values and needs and can literally change your actions, direction, your character ,and your life. For best results, write a mission statement about your life and for each of the key areas of your life (health, relationships, finances and career) and make a commitment to reading them out weekly with emotion.

Watch the video by Tony Robbins sharing the importance of making progress and having compelling visions

Write Your Goals, Outcomes, and Action Plans 

The habit of writing down clear and specific goals, outcomes, and plans of action for achieving those goals is a must if you want to accomplish anything and make sustained changes. This is because writing down your goals clarifies them and begins building an awareness and expectation in your mind. Also, having written plans enables you to come up with specific set of actions to take each day towards the realization of your long-term goals and vision. Remember that the ultimate objective is not just achieving goals and definitely not achieving perfection but making progress towards becoming a better person in the ongoing process of achieving meaningful goals.

Develop Empowering Beliefs and Strategies. Expect to Live Fully and Hold yourself to a Higher Standard  

People who achieve great things in life aren’t normally any more intelligent or capable than the average person. One of the differences is that successful people habitually do certain things differently which many unsuccessful but intelligent people don't: they develop empowering state of mind including holding themselves to a higher standard, utilizing a life plan guided by their positive values, and making progress (not achieve perfection) on a daily basis. Having high standards is not about meeting others standards but about being proactive, finding out what really makes a difference, doing your best, and making progress on a regular basis.

Watch the video by Tony Robbins on importance of having and living your high standards

Create Success Rituals Such as Repeating Empowering Incantations 

This is probably the most commonly neglected of the self improvement tips and it’s also one of the most important and effective. Self improvement is not a one-time motivation but an ongoing creation of extraordinary life of fulfillment in spite of setbacks. The difference between success and failure is the consistency in which rituals are applied and flexibility of the strategies. It is extremely important to create daily or regular rituals that will remind you of what is truly important, allow you to utilize your capacities, and create success with your body, relationships, finances, and accelerate your success – regardless of your challenges.

One such exceptionally important ritual involves reciting incantations (not affirmations or positive self-talk). Incantations are the most effective means of getting yourself into an empowering state. Practice of incantations also helps to activate the positive energy within you so that you can be more effective in dealing with the challenges you will come across.

Incantations are not same as affirmations. Incantations involve repeating certain empowering phrases with conviction using all of yourself including your body. The process of consistently practicing such success rituals enables you to develop unshakable emotional fitness.

Watch the following video of Tony Robbins on how to do empowering incantations.

Take Consistent Action in Spite of Setbacks. Use Tough Times to Become Even Better 

No matter how much knowledge you have or how deeply passionate you are, the only sure way to grow, make progress, and become better is by taking consistent action towards your vision and learning from your actions and results. It is vitally important to continue taking positive action especially during tough times and not just during good times. An incredibly useful technique to achieve success involves learning ways to turn seemingly difficult activities into a fun or fulfilling experience. There are ways and techniques that Tony Robbins talks about in his "ultimate edge" program to begin enjoying difficult activities. A simple example would be, for instance, if you dislike exercising then you can change that by putting on your favourite music or listening to an inspirational CD while exercising. Other ways involve becoming aware and changing internal represantations so you experience a difficult event in a positive way or state.

If you find yourself getting into a negative pattern then use that as a sign to take responsibility (not blame) and get back on track. As mentioned before, progress and not perfection is the goal. Learn from your actions and take note of what is working and improve upon it. Also take note of what is not working and make changes. You will be amazed at the progress you will have made over time.

Ask yourself empowering questions such as “if I knew I will succeed, how would I utilize this experience to move even closer to my goals?”

See the following video where Tony talks about the way Silvester Stallone or Rocky dealt with his setbacks

Manage your Time and Create a Balance on an Ongoing Basis 

The process of personal development is not one sided. Each important area of your life affects every other area either directly or indirectly. If your relationships are out of order, it's going to affect your health and your financial life. If your health is out of order it's going to hinder your personal growth and make it more difficult for you to find the energy to achieve any of your goals.

So no matter what you're trying to achieve, being well-rounded is the key to living a balanced life including building passionate relationship, the physical vitality, the emotional fortitude, the financial abundance, and the social support system required in order to achieve great things. Also, I do not think it is possible to achieve perfection in any area. The adventure, joy, and fulfillment are in the process of constant growth and contribution.

Managing your time is not just completing your to do list, it is about constant progress toeards what is truly meaningful to you based on your mission and vision statements. Reminding yourself on a regular basis about what is truly important and passionately pursuing what is important to you creates growth, fulfillment, love, and sense of contribution.

Journal  

If you study the great achievers of history, you'll find that almost all of them wrote about their journey towards their valued goals. Keeping an effective journal helps you to take note of and clarify important aspects such as your goals, needs, values, thoughts and ideas, progress, and actions. It is also important to make note of the wonderful moments you experience, are grateful for, and what needs to change. The process also helps you increase self-awareness including awareness of your strengths and experiences you can be grateful for. The process can also help you become flexible and constantly reinvent yourself.

Contribute to Others 

This is the most important of any of the seven self improvement tips. The more you become a role model, teach and contribute to other people the principles of personal growth, the clearer your understanding will be of them and the more effective you'll be able to make them in your own life.

When you better yourself so that you can provide value to others you will get a sense of mission and success that will motivate you to experience ultimate happiness. Remember, as Tony Robbins, rightly says that the most profound sense of happiness comes from contributing beyond you.

The Power of Tony Robbins 6 Human Needs

Understand why you do what you do and how to create sustained changes in your life 

Have you been in a situation where you wondered why you, your loved one, or someone else you knew behaved in an empowering way or a destructive way on a regular basis? Well, you are about to learn a way of understanding people that is simple and yet profound. More important, when you begin to understand the knowledge (in this and other articles) you will have powerful tools to move towards increased and sustained levels of joy, fulfillment, influence, and passion in your life and relationships.  

Remember people always behave the way they do for understandable reasons, no matter how wonderful or destructive the behaviors may be. According to Tony Robbins all behaviors are motivated by our quest to fulfill our 6 human needs. The needs include CERTAINTY, VARIETY, SIGNIFICANCE, LOVE/CONNECTION, GROWTH, and CONTRIBUTION. The first four are basic needs of the personality and everyone will find ways to fulfill them. The last two are needs of the spirit and are necessary if one is to experience fulfillment.

People learn to value certain needs more than others based on factors such as prior significant emotional events. They then unconsciously feel driven to meet these needs and they develop habitual patterns to meet the needs in an empowering or disempowering ways. The power lies in becoming aware of your valued needs and the empowering and disempowering patterns. Become aware of your thinking, physiology, language, related emotional states, without blaming yourself; and then making changes.

See the following video from You Tube (by Tedtalks) where Tony talks about why you do what you do and how to do it better

If you found the above videos inspiring and would like to transform your life be sure to check Tony Robbins products. Some of the products to help you accelerate your success and fulfilment include "The Ultimate Edge"   "Time of your Life" and "The Ultimate Relationship Program"

Much Success and God Bless You. More to come…

Al