Self-improvement, self-help, and self-efficacy are concepts that gain more and more praise as time goes on. More and more people are understanding that the time to become a better person is now, and with accessibility to free information better than ever, excuses are fading fast. There’s never been a better time to pull a 180-degree turn with the route your life is progressing into more accurately explore your interests and get paid for them.
A wealth of materials exists online to help you achieve any end, and so this handy mini-guide will help you brush the dust off your existing habits and throw your adventurer’s spirit into an online pursuit that could increase your paycheck or simply help you lead a more satisfying life.
Sign Up To Online Reading & Study Groups
With the prevalence of online message boards, sometimes studying the next business resource to help improve your startup or entrepreneurial wisdom doesn’t have to be so gruelling. If you look online, there will be people reading the exact same texts as you with a similar attitude to self-improvement.
If you find these people, you may be able to discuss the finer points of a concept you’re struggling to grasp with, bounce ideas off of them or even get recommended new, more obscure resources that can prove invaluable to getting your idea or new pursuit off the ground.
Read and Watch Free Online Lectures
Many millions of hours of university lectures have taken place since the dawn of Socrates’ Academy so it’s only fair that some of these bleed onto public video-sharing websites such as YouTube. Any discipline can be catered for, and you can find lectures from the top universities in the world often hosted for free on a range of topics. Sometimes it’s easy to fall into a spiral of a complete and total education hole once you realize how fascinating your chosen interest is.
The benefit of this is that you’re actually getting an expert-level education for free, and you can hop between topics without the need to change your major. Of course, you’re not getting the reactivity, qualification or support from a lecture that a real course provides, but that doesn’t mean you can’t glean immense value from it.
Study an Online Degree
Online universities are becoming universal and are often superior to being part of an institution in many ways. No matter where you are if you have the funds you can gain fantastic qualifications that can unlock potential career paths without leaving the comfort of your own home. In the digital world, studying for a digital systems focused degree such as Cybersecurity from Maryville University can help you make the most of the increasing trend toward life online.
Reach Out To or Form a Community
Even better than only finding a study group is finding or forming a community online. Here you can find like-minded people that you can discuss ideas with, find valuable avenues to progress your self-improvement down or even finding people to hire for your new startup idea. If searching the top community boards don’t yield anything, consider making your own to share your experiences in your career or life. It’s often said that teaching something helps you cement new information for good. Make use of this and you’ll also potentially develop valuable friendships.
Find A Mentor
We all need a helping hand once in awhile. Finding advice online can be easier than you think. Maybe you’ll connect with someone who’s had similar issues with their startup or career that you’re having and can lend you a fresh perspective.
Read Business Blogs
Reading blogs that are maintained by experts in the fields of business you are interested in can be a fruitful exercise in itself. The varied postings of opinions from a range of authors could help you form ideas of the best ways to inspire making a change. Reading the long-form thoughts of someone you respect can help you get inner workings into the conclusions they’ve come to after working in their industry, and this can prevent you making those too-easy-to-fall-into mistakes.
As you progress with your self-development online and store all the valuable information you find, you’ll have made tangible progress in educating yourself for the betterment of your future. If you did find use from these exercises, consider giving back to the community, or even running a blog yourself. You never know, everyone knows something you don’t, and this works in reverse. It might be you know something from your experience only you can impart to others. Doing this will foster a feeling of goodwill, and you never know, might lead to a prospective employment or business opportunity.
