14 days ago, I decided “I need to be better”. It’s not the first time I’ve thought it and I highly doubt it will be the last. However, I believe that every time we have this thought, we should give it voice. Not literally, though for some, that may help.
No, when I say give the thought ‘voice’, what I mean is, act upon the thought. For me, I decided to get back into using ‘Habitica’ a gamified task management web app. Now, I started by giving myself impossible goals – the idealized version of myself. And I found myself with a problem.

While I had given the thought ‘voice’, I had set myself up for failure. And I believe this is where most people have gone wrong. Instead of setting simple goals that they can achieve, they set unrealistic goals in order to justify it when they decide to stop trying. At least, that is the problem I found myself having.
And so, after having my ‘character’ die in Habitica a few times, I decided to alter the baseline. Instead of the biggest changes that I could do to improve myself, I’d find the small habits I needed to develop first. And then once I had established those, add a new habit that wouldn’t increase the difficulty too much.

So, this post was written two weeks (14 days) from having that realization. Has the process been successful?
While I can’t say that any habit has been ‘established’ yet, I can say I have been meeting a major goal I think which is beneficial for my life. Every day, I walk 20,000 steps. I have not missed a day yet. Whether it be during work, at the gym on a treadmill, running on the spot at home, I make sure by the end of the day, I always have 20,000 steps taken. No compromises.

The reason I chose this habit is to keep myself active, even on the weekends, as I would do around 10,000 steps on a weekday, but less than 1000 on the weekend. Sometimes it would look like I hadn’t even moved.
And what has this habit done for me?

Well, for one, I am finding it easier to smile. I am finding it easier to run longer distances. I am finding conversing with people easier. I am wanting to improve myself more.
All from a habit that isn’t difficult for me to achieve. Having started doing this habit, I started thinking ‘what else could I do that would make me feel better?’ So now I listen to non-fiction audiobooks, and I try cooking new things.

I even decided to write a blog post for the first time in forever. So, the answer to the question ‘How do I get better than I am’? I believe the answer is simple.

For you to improve yourself, you first must actually want to change.
There is no secret to self-improvement – It is simple a matter of starting.

Cheers,
Rumanshi.