Are You Better Than You Were Yesterday?

There are 24 hours in a day and 168 hours in a week, which goes to say there are more than enough hours to accomplish what I set out to do. There is no such thing as I don't have the time, is what I have to remind myself constantly. The other day I was having a wonderful conversation with a dear cousin of mine and his conversation inspired this post. We haven't talked in a long while due to my own selfish and stubborn introverted nature of not keeping in touch. So when we do reconnect our conversations always last hours. When one thread of conversation ventured into a self improvement talk I was genuinely surprised and overjoyed. My cousin like myself is on a self-improvement journey and is always looking for ways to better himself. It's as if my two favorite cousins and I suddenly discovered our 20s is our decade to do better and become better lest before we turn into a scary version of our parents! His breakthrough statement that caught me by surprise "I'm always working on being better than I was yesterday". That one statement sparked a small fire inside me.

It's true competition is always a good thing but the only true competition that really matters is the competition to be a better version of oneself. Putting in effort everyday even on small matters when enforced brings about a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. Practicing certain habits over and over and over everyday with the intention of reaching close to perfection is the goal. So how exactly do I implement this mandate of becoming a better version of myself? I do a self evaluation at the end of every week. While I my jot down notes and tidbits here and there on a daily basis, weekly self evaluations seems less intimidating and much more efficient. My own personal self evaluation consists of the basics: school, health & fitness, social life, inner and outer relationships. Some typical questions I ask myself:

•  Did I speak up in class more than once?
•  Have I participated fully in a social engagement for my campus clubs?
•  Do I call my family members and friends once a week to keep in touch?
•  When engaging in conversations do I listen intensively more than I ramble?
•  Have I watered, nursed, and cared for my plants every day?
•  Have I completed my readings and gone over my class notes daily?
•  Do I maintain my exercise routine every morning and every night with one day of rest?
•  Have I written in my journal daily for reflection, honing my writing skills, and organizing my  jumbled  thoughts?
•  Did I avoid spending money on useless things like vending machine snacks and overpriced  bagels?
•  Do I cook at least three times a week focusing on proper technique and food prepping?
•  Have I practiced my language skills every morning for at least one one hour?
•  Do I listen to political news and podcasts at least once a day?

Readjusting my frame of mind to ask myself the question "Am I I better than I was yesterday?" That should be my one goal that I can be accomplish everyday like clockwork. Improving myself little by little everyday is a small but much needed habit to practice. Once I can re frame my mindset to this I am much better at evaluating my past performance and future potential at the end of the week.