Don't Overuse Self-Improvement to Cope with a Bad Life

Self-improvement is great for making your life better than it was the day before. It’s a necessary component for growth in life.

My life has significantly improved since adding self-improvement into my life. I’ve become calmer, focused, and happy.

Self-improvement is a game-changer. I recommend everyone pursue it to some degree.

But recently, I’ve noticed people taking self-improvement too far. I’m talking about people doing things such as 3-hour morning routines, never taking time to relax and enjoy life, and even avoiding touching grocery receipts! Yes, I’m serious. Some people are claiming that touching grocery receipts is bad for you.

So, today let’s talk about how to approach self-improvement without taking it too far.

Self-improvement is functional

Everything that you do for self-improvement should be purposeful. It should do something to enhance your life.

Say you want to develop a clearer mind. So, adding a meditation routine would naturally fit into your life. The meditation routine would help you develop mental clarity and learn to be able to sit with your thoughts.

Doing self-improvement things simply for the sake of doing them is a waste of your time. Ask yourself, “Do I really need to do this? Is it helping me? If so, how?”

The same goes for doing something self-improvement related because you heard someone else was doing it. Waste of your time.

Everything you do for self-improvement should aim to help you improve an area of your life that needs it. Hence the name “self-improvement.”

Self-improvement shouldn’t be a coping mechanism for a shitty life

As discussed in the previous section, self-improvement should have a purposeful addition to your life.

But it should not be a coping mechanism for living a shitty life.

What do I mean here?

Some people use self-improvement to make themselves feel better. But they actually aren’t helping themselves.

The self-improvement activities they do mask the root problem that’s causing them stress, unhappiness, etc.

There is only so much that self-improvement habits can do to help you. Sometimes, you need to use self-reflection to determine why you think you need each self-improvement habit.

You’ll need to ask yourself tough questions to get down to the root problems you’re facing in your life. From there, you can determine if the self-improvement habits are really the solution to them. Or you’ll figure out if these habits are a form of procrastination that’s preventing you from doing what you really need to do.

I know that this self-reflection process is a challenge. But it’s important to do. Many self-improvement habits should be nice additions to your life, not necessary additions.

If you can’t have a good day without doing all of your self-improvement habits, it’s a sign that something needs to change. Listen to this sign and act accordingly.

A little bit goes a long way

You don’t need to spend hours and hours doing morning or evening routines. That’s ridiculous overkill.

You only really need a few minutes to an hour each day to get your self-improvement habits done each day. You can of course spend more time if you wish, but it’s not necessary.

Overdoing these habits does more harm than good. It will lead to burnout and resentment. You’ll be more likely to quit pursuing self-improvement entirely.

So, take some time to pursue self-improvement. But I don’t recommend doing more than you need.

Tools in your toolbox

You don’t need to do each self-improvement tool each day. You can rotate habits in and out of your routine to keep them fresh.

But an even better strategy is to use your self-improvement habits when you need them.

Think of self-improvement habits like tools in your toolbox. They sit there in your garage collecting dust day after day. But when the day comes when you need to get the screwdriver to screw the air conditioners into your window, you’ll have it sitting there waiting for you in your toolbox.

When you need to clear your mind, meditation is there for you.

The point here is that you can use self-improvement when you need it. If you don’t need to do it, then spend your time doing more productive things.

Final thoughts

As you can see, self-improvement doesn’t need to be a big time investment in your life.

You can simply use it when you need it. Or you can do it every day to build habits. It’s up to you to use self-improvement in a way that’s going to benefit your life the most.

Beware of the self-improvement trap where you spend more time doing self-improvement activities than you spend on productive work or time with your friends and family.

Use self-improvement as a tool, not as an escape from life.