What does "self-improvement" mean to you?

What are you trying to do right now and how?

And how often would you say you're trying to improve yourself?

[Edited on August 12, 2010 at 12:28 PM. Reason : hmph]

8/12/2010 12:18:47 PM

TWW is apparently a corporate team-building seminar now.

And I would say that self-improvement is a perpetually ongoing process and anyone really attempting to better themselves is consistently doing it through their actions.

8/12/2010 12:20:33 PM

"Self improvement is masturbation"
-Tyler Durden

sorry, first thing that came to mind.

8/12/2010 12:22:04 PM

alright, but when you're trying to "improve" yourself, are you focusing on your looks? your physique? your health? your mental stability? how you treat other people? overcoming fears? achieving monetary or work related goals?

8/12/2010 12:22:21 PM

All of the above.

8/12/2010 12:23:46 PM

So what are you trying to actively improve about yourself right now?? And how?

8/12/2010 12:27:32 PM

my morals/ standards. i've been a lot better at being picky on who i date and sleep with. I haven't "dated" anyone since Feb. by choice.

8/12/2010 12:33:01 PM

Quote :

"alright, but when you're trying to "improve" yourself, are you focusing on your looks? your physique? your health? your mental stability? how you treat other people? overcoming fears? achieving monetary or work related goals?"

you can't just change one thing about yourself and expect everything else to stay the same

for instance lets say you want to get in better shape. well before you know it you're playing video games less, paying more attention to what you eat, your actual body chemistry has changed, you might be more optimistic, and you find you get better sleep and have more energy throughout the day. you probably also have a set schedule of working out. you're literally a different person because you changed one thing.

8/12/2010 12:35:13 PM

^yeah, but that's not what I'm asking. I don't give a shit about side effects, just what people are consciously trying to do.

8/12/2010 12:38:26 PM

FYI, this is just a survey, so just treat it like one!

8/12/2010 1:05:28 PM

do i get paid to answer this?

8/12/2010 1:07:03 PM

well i responded and nothing happened

8/12/2010 1:07:31 PM

plz 2 move to chit-chat!

8/12/2010 1:10:06 PM

I'd say that I'm always trying to improve myself.

I'd break it down into the following groups:

Personality:
Short Temper
Lack of Communication

I try to actively think through at least one additional time a day when I'd withdraw from a situation that I felt uncomfortable and instead confront what made me uncomfortable and try to explain what I meant as best as I can. I was raised around someone with a very short temper and I would very much not like that to directly channel through me as I get older. I also don't want to be the person that can't express themselves.

Looks/Physique (since i think these go hand in hand):
Getting into the realm of overweight
Style of dress not staying relevant to age

I have taken interest into cooking more meals at home than eating out, this mainly translates to dieting and watching what i eat. Also, updating wardrobe to fit my lifestyle of full time work/student and an adult.

Mental Stability:
Depression
Lack of Communication/Loneliness

I've kept a journal for the last 8-9 years to keep track of all the things going on in my life along with a corresponding level of satisfaction of life during that time. It has helped to improve the communication seen in personality due to looking back and seeing how I could handle things differently. Also being in a new house on my own I try to find ways to incorporate responsibility into combating the loneliness by keeping it relatively neat and fixing things that are damaged or unsightly


[Edited on August 12, 2010 at 1:20 PM. Reason : ^ as its a serious thread its appropriately placed in the lounge i think]

8/12/2010 1:15:47 PM

self-improvement to me is just identifying those parts of your life that you wish were different, and then doing something about it.


what Im doing:

Honesty - I came to the conclusion earlier this year that Im a bit of a liar. Sometimes Ill say what I think the person wants to hear or Ill omit parts of a story, etc. I've started to notice that really honest people are usually people that are the most comfortable with themselves, where they are, and where they are headed. I've really appreciated absolute brutal honesty lately, so thats what Im striving to achieve (of course, within reason.)



Planning vs. Spontaneity - Both my parents are people that like to plan. I think I picked a good bit of that up, and its good for a lot of areas of my life (in fact its necessary). But I think it also has to be balanced with a generous helping of Spontaneity, so I've been trying to include days in my week where I don't have anything planned and just see what materializes.



Focusing - Throughout college I developed a lot of side hobbies/things to do when Im bored. There were so many that I really never focused on any single one to become better than mediocre at it. So lately I've been trying to decide what hobbies/passions I love the most, focusing on them more in my spare time and actively try to get better at them.

8/12/2010 1:19:08 PM

Thank you all.

Am I right in assuming the people who decided to throw in witty remarks and no real input don't really have any goals?

[Edited on August 12, 2010 at 1:41 PM. Reason : fd]

8/12/2010 1:40:47 PM

No, that would not be accurate. I just see it as a collaborative effort over many areas and not one or two areas. Like the above said, everything IS connected.

I could have an amazing diet and try and be more disciplined when it comes to not taking in empty calories like alcohol but if I don't exercise regularly and lift weights than I'm not going to be in any better physical shape than before.

I could take steps to improve my work ethic and education level but if I don't plan on using them to advance in my career it's not going to be anything more than a superficial self-improvement.

To me when you work on just one or two areas it isn't really self-improvement. It's almost like trying to get rid of guilt for not being at a certain level. And that DOES in fact respond to the very first question you asked. What does "self-improvement" meat to you?

8/12/2010 2:13:29 PM

8/12/2010 2:21:17 PM

Self-improvement- trying to get better at the stuff I'm already doing, the usual.

get in better overall shape- improve my body and try new things (half-marathon in November, Olympic tri in Sept, an English century in Oct.),
eat better, maybe lose some weight along the way (although with my substantial beer habit, this probably won't happen)

continue educating myself- go back to school for nursing, continuously improve my practical skills (raising chickens, gardening, sewing, fixing bikes), reading up on topics of interest

be a more patient person

8/13/2010 5:25:28 PM

For me, self-improvement includes trying to fix things and also to enrich myself (I am reminded of why we took so many non-major courses in college - to become a well-rounded person).

In my own case, enriching things included increasing the number of times a week that I exercise, along with cutting out sweet tea, dessert (most of the time; when it is eaten, it's usually fruit), eliminating sugar from the lattes I drink, etc. in order to trim down and become an appropriate size/figure for my frame.

Enriching/fixing things (as I tend to view this as both) also meant getting the master's and the plan to pursue the PhD. And it includes other things as well, such as addressing issues in my relationship with the SO.

Fairly standard fare, I presume.

[Edited on August 14, 2010 at 8:00 AM. Reason : Formatting]

8/14/2010 7:59:27 AM

Is this a homework assignment?

8/14/2010 8:14:57 AM

What do you suck at? What interests you? Find that intersection. Work on it.

Self-improvement.

Profit.

8/14/2010 11:19:36 PM

I would like to point out that in this thread 3 women and 2 men answered my questions completely... the rest of the replies were snide remarks and incomplete answers, all from men. Considering the ratio of men:women on this website is skewed in favor of men, I'm hypothesizing that women, over all, are much more inclined towards self-improvement.

Now I have to figure out if it's a good thing that women are more focused on improvement, or simply a result of the pressures society put on women more than men and what society can do or change or would be like if the focus on self-improvement was equal between the sexes...

8/15/2010 1:37:03 AM

you asked what self improvement meant to us and then when we told you you said we were wrong. go figure.

8/15/2010 1:50:01 AM

There were 2 other questions up there.

8/15/2010 2:12:48 PM

Ok fine. Here is my legit answers.

Real "self-improvement" is changing your lifestyle or actions to meet an end goal. Whether it's security, health, love, etc, etc.

I'm always trying to improve myself, but it's for purely selfish reasons. I went to graduate school because a) the opportunity presented itself; and b) i want to be more attractive to future employers and have an easier later life. I certainly didn't do it because I wanted myself to be better educated. It's purely for the selfish goal of making my life easier later.

I run every day and go to the gym five days a week. Not because I have great need to be in shape or because I know it's healthy for me, but rather because I'm single for the first time in a long time and want to make myself as attractive as possible for when I finally decide to start dating again. No other real reason. Of course, since I started doing this I've found out I actually enjoy going to the gym, too.

People can list what they are doing and leave it at that, but it's worthless if you're really trying to find out why you want to improve yourself.

8/17/2010 10:19:05 AM

Quote :

"since I started doing this I've found out I actually enjoy going to the gym, too."

ugh, i wish that were the same for me. going to the gym actually makes me hate going to the gym more.

8/17/2010 10:25:11 AM

Quote :

"when I finally decide to start dating again"

Never found this approach to work.

You can't just turn on "dating mode" and expect to reel in the ass just because.

You always have to keep your windows open...bang slightly fatter/uglier chicks now until you get in the physical shape or develop the self confidence to bang hotter ones.

Never voluntarily take yourself out of the pool... the rust prove quite difficult to shake off.

8/17/2010 11:26:26 AM

Quote :

"Never voluntarily take yourself out of the pool... the rust prove quite difficult to shake off."

this is incredibly true, and I'm working on removing the rust, that's my self improvement.

8/17/2010 12:06:38 PM