If you are interested in personal growth and continual improvement, you are probably always searching for ways to improve yourself and your life. Focusing on personal betterment is an excellent life skill, one that will help you enhance your knowledge and achieve your goals.

While there are certainly many areas of personal growth upon which you can focus, here are a few to get you started. Our ten ways to improve yourself are small steps you can make toward larger self-improvement goals.

1| Learn a new language or hobby.

When you are open to learning new skills, you stretch yourself in new and different ways. Languages can spark interest in other cultures and places, and hobbies provide physical and mental stimulation. Continually learning is excellent for your brain development, and a stance toward learning helps you approach life’s obstacles with positivity instead of fear.

2| Exit your comfort zone.

When you are comfortable, you begin to plateau. When you make efforts to get outside your comfort zone and try something different, you are stretching yourself. When you change your context or circumstances, you learn new skills and practice resiliency by dealing with new situations.

3| Make journaling a habit.

Writing in a journal every day can increase your self-awareness and contribute to your ongoing self-reflection. Writing in a journal helps you clarify goals, work through painful emotions, and gain insights into yourself and others. Whether you keep it private or share it digitally through a blog, the act of daily writing can benefit your life in many ways.

4| Make your environment as inspirational as possible.

When your living or workspace is dull, disorganized, or depressing, this impacts your ability to be happy and productive. Create a space that inspires you through its mood and tone. When you are happy in your space, this will be reflected in how you feel and what you do.

5| Cultivate better habits.

Whether you smoke, bite your nails, are consistently late, or swear too much, losing a bad habit can be hard. Instead of focusing on the negative, look at this as an opportunity to learn how to do better. You are cultivating a habit of being punctual, living healthier, or making others feel more comfortable. This allows you to set attainable and measurable goals each day, which is more productive.

6| Request feedback.

During your journey toward self-improvement, it is always good to get the perspective of others. How do the people you love and know well think you can improve? What are ways you could be a better friend, mate, colleague, or loved one? Getting feedback from others also helps you see new perspectives and recognize your blind spots when it comes to your growth.

7| Create a personal challenge.

Set a goal, and work diligently toward it for 30 days. A month is a reasonable amount of time to make a plan, place it in motion, see some results, and reflect on your next steps. 30-day challenges are workable challenges that allow you to make small steps toward larger goals, as well.

8| Get rid of negative influences.

We all know at least a few people who bring you down in life. Make every reasonable effort to remove those people or their control from your existence. When you start to feel dragged down by others, remove yourself from the situation, address it directly with them, or practice turning their negative influence into positive experiences.

9| Make friends with leaders.

When you have a professional goal, surround yourself with people who know how to accomplish things. Target those top in your field and those with the knowledge and expertise, then learn from them through your professional relationships. Surrounding yourself with people who are successful can help you achieve similar results as you improve your skills and gain new insights.

10| Let go of fear.

We are all scared of something. Maybe you are scared of many things. These fears prevent growth, so addressing them is essential. Addressing your fears, instead of continuing to ignore them, is necessary for your forward progress, so face those fears and move on to accomplishing your dreams.

Go and get all that you deserve!