How To Be Your Best Self in the New Year

There are only two months left of the year and I’m already thinking about how I can up-level the next year. Since a big part of this blog is about living your best life I thought I would share my tips to be your best self in the coming New Year.

Something I’ve come to realize over the years is that good habits don’t happen overnight – and rarely easily. The key to being your best self is to make small micro changes over a long period of time. If you’re looking for a quick-fix that’s just not going to happen. Plus it puts a lot of pressure on yourself, which isn’t healthy.

Continue reading to find out how I like to focus on my growth and how you can encourage slow growth in 2021.

Be Your Best Self By Reading Some Self-Help Books

There’s a lot of debate about whether the self-help publishing industry does more harm than good. Like junk foods, anything can be unhealthy in excess and consuming too much life advice and trying to incorporate them all into your life won’t yield the results you want.

On the other hand, reading a few self-help books throughout the year can actually help you gain insight to make appropriate adjustments. You might discover that your current mindset and internal thinking is affecting the decisions your making in a negative way. Or, you could learn simple tools to become more resilient and bounce back from failures (something a lot of us entrepreneurs need).

I’ve found the advice contained in these books is best consumed slowly and repetitively. If there’s a new habit you really want to stick, reaffirming that with the advice of different experts can help keep you motivated.

When choosing a self-help book look for authors that resonate with you. In my experience, some books were enlightening and spoke to me and others I didn’t enjoy. In addition, focus on self-help that incorporates scientific studies to back up the author’s points.

Here are some recommended self-help books you may want to look into. Also, check out the book reviews on this blog as a lot of them are for self-help books!

Start Setting Intentions, Not A Resolutions

I learned about setting intentions vs. setting resolutions in 2018.

Most of us set New Year’s resolutions like “I will work out 4 days a week and get in shape this year”. We’re incredibly motivated in January; getting the gym pass, purchasing cute workout clothing, sharing our excited on our social pages. Then, come February we lose motivation and forget the resolution. Sound familiar?

It’s because it’s really hard to put in that much consistent work to meet our resolutions.

On the other hand, an intention is more flexible and positive. It’s less about the action and more about your attitude. Rather than setting goals for something you don’t want to do (ermm, exercise!), an intention is the act of manifesting something you dream of and long for. It’s the intent to do something you want to do, that adds meaning to your life, that makes these more effective.

For example, I set an intention at the beginning of this year to focus on my personal development. You could set intentions to eat more vegetables, find more time to relax, or even to make more money. You’re not stuck doing unwanted actions to achieve these results, instead, you’re setting the intention and there are several ways to manifest it.

Be Your Best Self By Learning A New Habit Each Month

This tip is inspired by YouTuber Matt D’Avella who documents his 30-day habit experiments on his channel, which I’m obsessed with. If you’re going into 2021 with the intent to be your best self, I recommend using his method.

Not only is it hard to form a habit, but it’s also almost impossible to learn more than one at the same time. Come New Years, our overly motivated selves naively try to start all our amazing new habits at once. It’s not going to work, and we know that.

Rather than try to be your best self immediately, see it as a process you will be focusing on for most of your life. Like habits, growth takes work. So, if you’re intention is to learn new habits in the New Year, try one habit a month. This will give you time to really ingrain it in your brain and find out how to fit it in with your lifestyle.

Find Ways To Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone

This is something we should all be doing if we’re trying to be our best selves. Stepping outside of your comfort zone is extremely stressful, however, it’s the best thing for growth!

When we’re living on autopilot our personal growth kind of plateaus. Getting comfortable in your consistent routine might be easier but you will rarely feel proud of yourself. If you’re willing to step outside of that there will be bigger rewards on the other side.

Growth happens when you try something new and challenge yourself. Without pushing yourself beyond those self limiting boundaries, you will never be able to be your best self.

Lastly, Be Your Best Self And Show Compassion To Yourself

If your intention going into the New Year is to focus on being your best self it’s important to also show yourself compassion, avoid perfectionism and unrealistic expectations, and know that there will be steps forward and backwards.

Being your best self does not mean being perfect. Rather, when we hear “be your best self”, it means living to your fullest potential, exploring how far you can go, continually expanding your experiences, skills, and living your truth.

Move forward with compassion for yourself and work towards your best self.