There are tons of answers you can find on google, and tons of “secret formulas” on YouTube to improve yourself in a short amount of time. But they are all useless if you are not putting in any effort. 

Today I am going to talk about the mindset that goes behind the question “Where do I start?” when it gets asked. But first, ask yourself another question before moving further with the first question. Will I be able to remain consistent with the process? It takes a lot of motivation to change habits and create a new one. You must choose between sleeping a few more hours, watching one more episode, playing for one hour more, or waking up early, eating healthy, reading books, and going to the gym. 

Over time, you may remain the same human, but you will be a completely different person. There are two choices between you: the life you want and the life you have. And if you do not choose it wisely the choice gets made for you. Wake up and be someone new: start playing the role of a character you always wanted to be. In the end, you are the only thing that stops you.  

Now returning to the topic, often the question, “Where do I start?” comes from the place of curiosity. The topic itself is too vast and people can have their own ideas on what that means and how to begin. People will have their own unique flavour of challenges and therefore each person will have different starting points and their own paths. But it may help those curious people to have someone to point them in a general direction to fill the curiosity with the will to start with the process of self-improvement. It necessarily does not have to be a person, it can be a book, a post, an article, a YouTube video, a ted talk, etc. There are so many resources that can help you figure out your “Where” to “Why,” and the answer to your “Why” can only be given by you. But for you to find the answer, you must understand the question, or better yet, where the question came from. You will need to start by discovering more about yourself first and start looking within yourself to understand who you are and what needs to be worked on. The most difficult yet most important part of self-development is self-discovery. The key tip is to not wait too long to start acting and overwhelm yourself with the fear that you are going to get things wrong. 

This brings me to my second point where the question “Where do I start?” is associated with fear. They fear that there is a “right” way and a “wrong” way to get into self-development, and they might choose the wrong way. The fearful people fear so much about doing it the wrong way that they will stall indefinitely, and the action never gets done. Like I said before, you are the only thing that stops you. If you are one of the fearful people, let me tell you this, the “right” and “wrong” way is a myth. Self-development itself is a vast topic, as I mentioned earlier, and it is near to impossible to discover your true self without making mistake. Making mistakes is a huge part of learning and learning is a huge part of self-development. In fact, the more you find out what is not right the quicker you realize what is. Instead of imagining your self-development path to be something that must be done right, you could simply view it as an experiment. Committing to actions for a certain amount of time and then allowing yourself to reflect on whether that is something worth doing. If you act and reflect it can help you grow in some way. And growing in any way is part of your self-development journey. 

Start with something small, like finding a new hobby or reading 10 pages a day, journaling, trying something new, etc. The first two-three weeks might not be easy, and you might not enjoy doing things out of your comfort zone and worst-case scenario you might end up quitting. But one thing to remember is your future self is counting on you. And eventually, if you keep doing it you will stumble upon the one thing that really clicks with you. When you find it, you will know it because there is a passion hidden within you for that thing. You need to keep on trying and be consistent until you find your “Why.” Each time you try something new, and you figure out that it is not for you, you are one step closer to finding what is for you. Self-Development never starts when you get it the “right” way, it starts when you begin trying. The journey is never easy but, in the end, it is worth it.