Tips For Being A Better, Happier Person

Maturity, intelligence, the ability to get along with other people; these are all milestones in personal development that generally happen as one goes through life. However, you can make choices that direct your development in the way that you choose. It's more difficult than just allowing natural changes to take place, but really developing who you are is worth the work. This article will help you with that work.

One of the best ways to get an accurate picture of yourself and to learn wisdom is through serving others. Whether you enjoy volunteering at a homeless shelter, helping kids at your church or cleaning up the environment, service projects can strengthen your sense of purpose and your connection to your fellow human beings.

Learning more about personal development can steer you away from pitfalls and dead-ends on your own path to success. The copious amounts of books and other materials available on the subject are valuable resources. If they provide nothing else, they will illustrate negative examples: Dangerous practices that the committed personal development enthusiast can learn to avoid.

A great self help tip that can help you turn your life around is to start communicating with people that you trust and people that support you. Having people around that can listen to you and be there for you can be a great tool in climbing out of a depression.

Get more done in your life by setting personal goals for yourself to achieve. Try writing them down in a plan and write how you plan to achieve them. There is no requirement on how many or how large or small the goals need to be; they should just pertain to what you want to achieve.

Learn to recognize your negative thinking patterns -- then reroute them to a more positive or realistic mindset. Do this with the help of a simple daily log, or work with a therapist to learn cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT has been proven to help people change their automtatic negative thinking into a more positive, realistic thought process.

Establish a rainy day fund. The only constant in life is change, and sometimes those changes require use to take on unexpected expenses. Putting a few dollars a week into an emergency fund will add up over time. Having an emergency fund in place can help provide a safety net throughout all the phases of one's financial life.

Replace an old habit with a new one. Toss out the negative and actively introduce and reinforce the positive. If you normally smoke when you are on a business call, start doodling instead. Enroll in an after work aerobics class to dissuade yourself from joining your co-workers at the corner bar.

Prepare yourself for the inevitable day when someone chooses to bully you or try to put you down. There is a good chance that you certainly do not deserve this kind of treatment, but it happens to everyone. Think about how you could respond to their jabs in a rational, polite, and reasonable way that will avoid conflict but will let that person know that he or she is out of line. This will help you to rise above the hurt that always accompanies this type of negative interaction.

Make a list of past instances in which you were able to successfully overcome peer pressure to make your own decisions, with successful results. Confidence in your own intuition can make you a better, wiser, and more invested decision-maker. It also guarantees that you will be able to give yourself credit where credit is due, increasing your sense of self-worth.

Concentrate on the good feeling getting something done brings. Don't focus on how much you detest a particular activity. Think of how much better you will feel to get it off your to-do list! No one likes to clean the dog's kennel but it is worse to worry about having to do it for days before you finally give in and get to work!

To live an authentic life you must become aware of who you really are and what you really want. Take at least 20 minutes each day to meditate. Examine your actions every day and decide whether or not you are really doing what you want to do. Identify the things that really are your heart's desire and plan the steps you must take to attain them.

To access your subconscious mind and find hidden solutions to your problems and questions, write in your journal each night before bed. Write about your day and ask yourself, in writing, how you might have improved problematic situations. Once you have written your questions, let them go. Your subconscious mind will unravel them overnight and may present you with an answer in the morning!

For someone who is experiencing problems controlling his or her anger, sometimes the most effective solution is also the simplest. Stop, breathe deeply, and count from one to ten. Most of the time, ten seconds is all the time that is needed to avoid a knee-jerk response that could easily have made the situation twice as volatile. It's old-school advice, but it really works.

As you grow older you will gain understanding about yourself. Once you have insight into your behaviors, you will be able to know why you do what you do, and hopefully will be able to change anything that you do not like.

Be willing to stand up for what you believe in. Defend your beliefs strongly, especially if someone is questioning them. There are people that will try to break you down, and the more you are willing to stand up for yourself, the more you will develop and feel proud of who you are.

Personal development is something you are going to experience throughout your life so you should be aware of it. If you are in control, the changes you make will be meaningful, and your life will go in the direction you choose. You will begin to understand why you make bad choices and negative decisions. Only then, can you truly impact your future.