September Is Self-Improvement Month

September 1 marks the beginning of Self-Improvement Month, making it a great opportunity to set goals you’d like to accomplish by the end of the year such as losing weight, managing your finances better, working on your mental health or simply learning to love and accept yourself more than you currently do.

Keep reading for recommendations on how you can make the most of this Self-Improvement Month including tips for setting goals and information about how insurance goals may factor into your plans for the remainder of the year.

What Is Self-Improvement Month?

Self-Improvement Month is an unofficial monthlong observance that takes place in September every year as a celebration of the practice of personal development. Since September marks the transition from summer to fall, it can be an excellent time to reset your approach to your day-to-day life and plan ways to better yourself as a person.

What Are the Benefits of Self-Improvement?

Taking steps to improve yourself in various areas of your life can be beneficial in several ways. Some of the main benefits of self-improvement include:^[1]

1. Getting to know yourself (including your strengths and weaknesses) better
2. Honing the skills that are most important for your personal growth
3. Gaining more self-confidence
4. Setting new and fulfilling goals for your life
5. Becoming more open-minded
6. Establishing a vision for your future
7. Growing closer to whatever success looks like for you

Self-Improvement Month History

Various organizations began to acknowledge the concept of a national Self-Improvement Month in the 1980s and they promoted it by hosting seminars and distributing books and informational pamphlets. It became a more formalized celebration by 1988, taking place across the nation in September.^[2]

How To Celebrate Self-Improvement Month

See the following sections for tips on how you can celebrate Self-Improvement Month including specific goals you may want to consider heading into the autumn months.

Reflect on Accomplishments

Before you embark on your journey of self-improvement, it can be helpful to start the month by celebrating your past successes. Rather than approaching Self-Improvement Month from a place of inadequacy, be proud of what you’ve accomplished in life up to now while also feeling motivated to become even better.

Similarly, you should try not to dwell on your past in a negative way. While you should certainly acknowledge your failures and make an effort to learn from them, make sure you don’t allow them to discourage you from making necessary changes in your life.

Set Goals

The best way to put yourself on a path toward personal growth during September is by setting goals; after all, you don’t need to wait for New Year’s Day to roll around to come up with resolutions that can help you better yourself.

Similarly, you don’t have to accomplish all of your goals by the end of the month. Instead, you can treat Self-Improvement Month as a time to kickstart self-improvement goals including both short-term and long-term objectives you want to implement in your life going forward.

To keep yourself focused on your personal or professional goals and give yourself the best chance of accomplishing them, consider following the SMART formula when establishing goals:^[3]

• Specific: Establish a clear objective at the outset. For example, instead of coming up with a general goal of losing weight, you could set a specific goal of losing 15 pounds.
• Measurable: Make sure your goal is based on something that can be readily measured so you can easily track your progress. For example, if your goal is to make your business’ website more popular, you should keep track of relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) such as the number of daily active users (DAUs) and how these metrics change over time.
• Achievable: It’s important to make sure your objective is realistic so you aren’t setting yourself up for failure. For example, if you’ve never run a long distance before, it might make more sense to set an initial goal of completing a 5K rather than a marathon.
• Relevant: The best goals are those that fit within your overall vision for how you want to develop as a person. For example, if you feel that you aren’t spending enough time with your friends and family members in person, then setting a goal of raising your number of social media followers may be counterproductive.
• Time-bound: Finally, you should set a timeline for when you want to complete your goal in order to make sure you are progressing at an appropriate pace. If you have a long-term goal in mind, consider dividing it into several smaller goals with more manageable timelines to keep yourself from getting overwhelmed.

Make a Budget

In terms of specific goals for Self-Improvement Month, one that you should consider in order to set yourself up for financial success is making a budget. This involves evaluating your current spending patterns and expected upcoming expenses and comparing this to your income to help you determine whether you’re in a good place financially and what steps you should be taking to live a more cost-effective lifestyle.

One way to free up money that you could spend on other things is by shopping around for various insurance policies like home insurance or auto insurance to make sure you are saving money while still securing the coverage you need to protect yourself and your property.

In general, it’s recommended that you review your insurance policies at least once per year so you can see if your current policies are still sufficiently meeting your coverage needs and whether you can find a better deal on coverage elsewhere.^[4]

Take Steps To Improve Your Physical Health

Some of the most basic steps you can take to work toward maintaining a healthier lifestyle during Self-Improvement Month include eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, managing your weight, getting a sufficient amount of sleep and avoiding smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.^[5]

Taking steps like these may help you feel better on a day-to-day basis and reduce your health care costs. Of course, it’s still recommended that you maintain health insurance and life insurance to cover medical bills or death benefits in case of a serious accident or other emergency.

Prioritize Your Mental Health

Similarly, you should try to keep your mental health in good condition to improve your quality of life on a daily basis and lower the amount you spend on mental health care services like therapy. Actions that can have a positive impact on your mental wellbeing include the following:^[6]

1. Exercising for around 30 minutes a day
2. Staying hydrated and eating healthy meals on a regular schedule
3. Sticking to a consistent sleep schedule and minimizing your exposure to blue light before you go to bed
4. Engaging in relaxing hobbies like meditating, listening to music, reading or spending time in nature
5. Prioritizing the most important things in your life while being willing to turn down things that aren’t necessary
6. Focusing on the things in your life that you’re grateful for
7. Challenging negative thoughts
8. Keeping in touch with friends, family members and other people who can provide you with emotional support