Why You’re More Likely to Succeed in Self-Improvement in the Fall

It’s not hard to think up ways we could improve ourselves. What’s tough is actually taking the steps necessary to achieve that personal growth.

Wanting to expand your abilities is a healthy impulse worth pursuing. Not only does giving ourselves this kind of challenge support better cognitive health, but gaining a new skill can have a crossover effect where it results in positive benefits in seemingly unrelated areas of your life.

For example, people who are able to stick to a new exercise routine find that they are also more disciplined in other areas.¹ And studies have shown that when children are taught how to play a musical instrument, their math and reading skills tend to go up.²

Scientists don’t claim that picking up a violin will immediately make you good at geometry, but rather that learning how to turn the notes on a page into music prepares your brain for success in other areas.

The goal you want to achieve might be practical, like gaining a new career skill. Or it could be life-enriching, like learning another language or becoming a proficient gardener. Any area where you seek personal growth can be a positive.

So when would be a good time to start your new initiative? Right now, when the leaves are changing and the kids are heading back to school.³

Three Reasons Why Fall Is the Best Season for Personal Growth

1. The change of season to more moderate weather makes it easier to concentrate. The distractions of summer are over, and cooler weather has been shown to enhance mental performance.
2. There’s still time to achieve your goal before the year ends. Start with a modest objective now and you can reach it by the end of December.
3. You can use your built-in back-to-school energy. From age five through young adulthood you took on a big challenge each fall—starting a new grade. You still have the reflex that makes this time of year ideal for personal growth.

Be bold and start something new this month. Even if you just take the first baby steps toward learning a new skill or establishing a new routine, the important thing you can do is begin.

As always, your trusted financial advisor is a great sounding board for ways to plan for significant self-improvement. Often, gaining new skills comes with new expenses. For example, if you’re literally going back to school, talk with your advisor about how to keep tuition and fees from derailing your progress toward financial health.

Sources:

1. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6971834/
2. https://www.weforum.org/stories/education-and-skills/b-c-students-who-took-music-classes-scored-higher-than-peers-in-math-science-and-english-study/
3. https://amlotus.edu/%F0%9F%8D%82-why-fall-is-the-best-season-for-personal-growth/