7 ideas for those who want to develop every day

1. Create morning and evening rituals

When it comes to morning rituals, they usually cite a billionaire as an example, or say that Barak Obama starts the day with cardio, while Jane Austen played the piano in the morning, cooked breakfast and sat down to write. All this may be inspiring, but let's be honest: morning exercises or meditation alone will not make you a president or great writers. But they will help structure your day and make it more organized. If you know exactly what you need to do in the morning or evening, the temptation to spend an extra 30 minutes in bed or get stuck on your phone will be a little less.

Here are some ideas for your morning ritual:

• charging or a short workout;
• meditation;
• keeping a diary;
• filling out the diary;
• easy cleaning (make the bed, put scattered things in places);
• self-education (foreign languages, popular science literature, courses and webinars);
• creation;
• walk.

But for the evening:

• analyzing the past day and planning the next;
• yoga or stretching;
• personal care (skin cleansing, masks, creams);
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• taking a bath;
• reading;
• listening to music or podcasts;
• writing practices, such as keeping a gratitude or achievement journal.

This is just a rough list. You can create your own rituals. It's good if it includes activities that make you happy, meet your goals and values, and for which there is not enough time during the day. Just assess your capabilities adequately and plan only those tasks that you really have time to complete.

2. Create a motivational notebook for yourself

This is a pocket book that will inspire, remind you of your goals and help you stay on track. You can turn to her if you are discouraged, confused, or drowned in procrastination.

Choose compact, sturdy and cute notebook. Write in it:

• basic life values;
• your mission - as you see it;
• long-term and short-term goals and plans to achieve them;
• your main strengths;
• mottos that motivate you;
• mantras that help you calm down and support you;
• the positive feedback you received (customer reviews, peer and executive praise);
• inspirational quotes.

You can also add pictures that illustrate your goals. Any creative is welcome. This is your personal pocket motivator, compose and arrange it however you like. By the way, you can start not a paper notebook, but a document in the cloud.

3. Look for your blind spots

These are flaws or features that you are not aware of, but that would be worth working on. For example, intolerance to certain categories of people or lack of certain skills and competencies.

To identify such blind spots, blogger Celestine Chua suggests42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself pay attention to what pisses you off.

If a phenomenon or event bothers you, you can try to understand the reasons and work on them.

For example, you are terribly enraged by modern bloggers: it seems to you that they are doing nonsense and they get money too easily. Perhaps you are angry for a reason, but because you yourself would like to make money by creating content, but do not dare or cannot find a good idea. So, it is worth thinking in this direction.

Another example: you are afraid of corporate parties and, in general, any crowded events. Yes, the reason may be that you are just an introvert. But what if you're scared because you lack the ability to communicate, make friends, and make connections? This is a reason to learn more about networking and practice in it more actively.

4. Ask for feedback often

Even the most reasonable and sober-minded person finds it difficult to adequately assess himself. A good way to find out about your progress or identify growth areas is to listen to what others have to say about you.

Constructive and polite criticism is a great space to develop.

It's great if you already get regular feedback: say, you are being praised or customers scold. But if the specifics of your activity does not imply this, you can yourself request feedback from a person whom you consider quite authoritative. This could be a manager, a more experienced colleague, a well-known specialist in your field.

It is important that the person is as competent and unbiased as possible. For example, you are drawing and want to get an opinion about your work. It is best not to show your work to your mom (she, of course, will praise you) and not to random people on the Internet (they, most likely, do not understand the issue and may turn out to be trolls), but the artist who you like. Or contact your art teacher.

Try to formulate your request as specific as possible. That is, not just "How do you like my drawings in general?"

5. Practice digital hygiene

Analyze what you read in the news feed and on social media. If this content undermines your self-confidence, makes you ooze and envy, it is quite logical to replace something that will bring you new knowledge, inspire you to work on yourself and get better, just cheer and will relax.

Calculate how much time you generally spend on social media. If you don't stick to your phone for several hours a day, use servicesthat limit the time spent in certain applications. And figure out how to replace this bad habit. Maybe it’s books, crafts, or podcasts — any simple activity that can help you deal with boredom and anxiety.

6. Clean up

No, it's not about washing dishes and dusting, but rather about getting rid of trash and organizing space. If you devote at least 10-15 minutes to this every day, your things and papers will always be in order. And this is important, because because of bedlam, we waste precious minutes, get angry, get upset - even though we could be doing something more productive.

A well-organized space is essential for any business. As the saying goes, first sharpen the ax, and then chop the wood.

You can do small tasks every day that will help rid the house from unnecessary things. For example, disassemble one shelf in a closet or clean the desktop of all unnecessary things. Or maybe delete unnecessary emails and sort files on your computer into folders, because order in the virtual space is also important.

7. Spend time with yourself

Keep a diary, meditate, contemplate, draw, walk alone. Invite yourself to museums, cafes, cinemas and shops. All this helps you to take a break from other people, calm down, filter out the views and judgments imposed on you, better hear yourself and understand what you really need.

Try to practice solitude every day. Svetlana Goncharova, author of books on time management for young mothers, offersSpoiled bag. Perfect filling! an interesting idea called "Spooky Bag". The point is to collect items in a bag or box that help you relax and fill you with strength and inspiration, and take time every day to retire with this set. This technique is suitable not only for mothers and not only for women, but for everyone in general.

In a "spoiled bag" you can put:

• book;
• sweetness;
• headphones that you connect to your phone to listen to music or podcasts;
• notebook and pen;
• album and pencils;
• something for needlework;
• face mask;
• aroma candles;
• kinetic sand or slime.

The list can be anything. The main thing is that these things make you happy.

About another way to spend time alone with yourself - creative dating - he tells in his book “The artist's way»Julia Cameron, an expert on creativity development. During such a date, you can go anywhere (or even stay at home) and do whatever you want. But there are a couple of conditions. Firstly, the activity should not be routine. It's great if you've never done this before. And secondly, it should fill you: give you new impressions and emotions, suggest interesting ideas and thoughts, in the end, just please and calm. Thirdly, you need to go on creative dates alone.

Here are some things to do:

• walk around the city with a camera, take a dozen or so shots;
• go to a second-hand bookstore, look through books, if you like something, buy it;
• attend a creative workshop;
• cook an unusual dish, serve it beautifully and take a photo;
• walk through the forest or park, collect a herbarium;
• get a sketchbook and complete a couple of spreads.

Creative people aren't the only ones who need such dates. After all, they help restore resources and find new ideas, and this will not hurt anyone.