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6 Things that Hinder Self-Improvement

It’s been a while now since I have been treading on the self-improvement path. Because it takes long before any significant results can be seen, there is an extremely long journey ahead of me. It might take infinity to get close to my higher self but there are some important lessons I’ve learnt while traversing on this journey. Even more, there are significant realizations made by me on this miraculous path.

As you embark yourself on this journey, you encounter a number of failures and as a result, you start thinking about the things that hinder self-improvement.

Those things that hinder self-improvement and growth, as found by me, are listed below:

1. Fear

We all fear change and success (as much as we fear failure). We become so much accustomed to living in a misery that we become antagonistic to change even if it promises us a better life.  Talking about success, do you ever get such a feeling:

“Everyone around me has been living a similar life. If I do something to make it an extraordinary, I might not be able to live with the success.”

The worst is that we have given meanings of wrong and right to everything possible in this world. And even if doing that wrong thing ( as per our beliefs and meanings) brings us closest to our inner-self, we fear doing that thing.

2. Blame Game

The moment something goes wrong, we have our list of things or people ready to put the blame. It’s in our nature to avoid taking the responsibility for our actions and our part in the failure. Until we learn to accept responsibility for our actions, there will no initiative from our side to take corrective steps or change our attitude/ behavior towards a particular situation.

3. Denial

One of our most common defense mechanisms is the denial of the situation/ circumstances. Without us realizing, it acts as a major barrier on our path to self-improvement. It doesn’t let us correct our bad behavior.

“I hardly eat anything. The only time I cheat is when I eat chocolate desserts after my meals. I fail to understand why I’m not losing weight despite so much effort.”

Do you really think you can identify your problems by maintaining this attitude of yours?

4. Laziness

“I will start doing it tomorrow…”

“Because I am not feeling well today…”

“I really wanted to do it but the circumstances are such that I just couldn’t…”

Really?

Without us realizing, the laziness creeps into our lives to such an extent that it starts affecting our day-to-day lives so much that forget about improving ourselves we, rather, start diminishing ourselves.

Read Also: 5 Life Lessons for Self-Improvement in Your 30s

5. Influence of Others in Our Lives

How will others react when they find me a changed person?

Will they appreciate me or simply ridicule this change?

Why do we have to give a damn to others? I know it’s easier said than done but we need to focus on improving our lives and not on doing what others want us to. It’s our life and it’s our responsibility to make it better. It’s a great disservice to our own selves and not to any one else if we don’t focus on our growth.

6. Aimlessness

Change or growth is something that can never be forced upon us. It will happen only if we want it to happen. We’ll lose weight only if we decide to watch our diet. We’ll grow in our careers only if we are willing to walk an extra mile.  It’s our will power and determination that determines the change. It has nothing to do with any magical sort of thing.

What has helped me improved a bit is the accountability factor. If not every day, I try to analyze at least once a week how far I’ve gone in keeping my promises, avoiding fears and staying more active. Because I understand there is always a scope for a change and improvement, learning (along with words) has become an inseparable part of my life.

Image source: blog.psychicoz.com