I attribute the differences between me right now and my younger self to learning about self-improvement. The idea of being able to intentionally raise my productivity and happiness through my actions every day has changed the way I act. I find myself more attracted to actions with long-term benefits and repulsed away from those I know I will regret later. I don’t improve my video game characters anymore because I know it won’t improve my real-life character. I try to avoid social media because I know I’ll mindlessly scroll hours away, gaining nothing but regret about the time passed. I instead want to work on myself through activities like journaling, exercise, and meditation. Things like these give me a sense of fulfillment from the idea that I am improving my future self. It took me some time to get here.
I wasn’t always avidly focused on self-improvement. In my youth, I was addicted to video games. It was the one thing I would do at home. Before I got familiar with the idea of homework, I only looked forward to playing video games after school. Eat. Go to school. Go home to play video games. Go to sleep. Repeat. I didn’t know about self-improvement. I knew I always felt somewhat lazy, but I didn’t feel like it was a problem. I didn’t think that I could improve the situation. Looking back, I should’ve known that I could be working for a better life.
I started to change around 2020 when I started looking into productivity. I still did not know about self-improvement, but I knew vaguely about having a more productive life. I learned to consume less and make more things for the world. I still played video games. I still indulged in activities that weren’t the best for me long-term. But I was improving my life, little by little. In 2022, I found a new skill I wanted to learn. It wouldn’t improve my productivity or get me into self-improvement, but it was fun, and before I knew it, I was learning how to learn better.
Speedcubing. The hobby of solving the Rubik’s Cube as fast as I can. Before I learned how to solve a cube, I didn’t acknowledge all the resources I could use to improve myself. I had no idea, at least consciously, that I could improve through videos and websites on the internet. With getting into this hobby, I learned that all I needed to do to improve at something was get information and practice. I write about this idea in one of my previous articles: Everything is a Skill - How to Improve at Anything. With this idea, I continued to learn.
While watching videos, I encountered a self-improvement video for the first time. It was a video about a method to stop procrastinating on work. I didn’t know I found the self-improvement space; I thought I was still watching productivity content. As I watched more videos from the same creator, I started to learn more about self-improvement. The idea now wasn’t to only improve my results in school. The idea was to improve my life holistically. I watched videos about improving my confidence, sleeping better to gain energy, and finding other actions to better my life. I threw myself into a rabbit hole of improvement, and it was only getting started.
I slowly started to remove video games from my life. Video games did not contribute to my improvement at anything outside of the game. I also started to eat more healthy foods. I started eating salads and high-protein foods instead of processed fast food. I felt better after eating. I started trying meditation. I felt more focused. I started exercising. I felt so much better about my physique, even though I have made barely any progress compared to those who have committed for years. Before I knew it, playing video games and scrolling social media felt somewhat disgusting. Although I am still hooked on social media, especially watching random entertainment videos, I look forward to when I get that out of my life. I find myself wanting to go outside more.
The self-improvement journey is a lifelong journey of getting better. I recommend trying it. It feels rewarding, especially when you do it for a while. It requires consistency and discipline, but there are rewards to gain.
Written by Joshua Coquia, Edited by Gurmukh Singh