My 20 Best Self-Improvement Articles of 2020

The Emotion Machine is dedicated to all things self-improvement in the 21st century.

It was first started in June 2009 and currently has over 500 self-improvement articles covering a wide-range of topics about Thinking, Emotions, Habits, Meditation, Relationships and Creativity.

It’s one of the largest educational resources to learn about psychology and self-improvement, but it’s just the beginning. I hope you continue to join us in 2021 to make it the best year possible.

But first…

Here’s a compilation of my best self-improvement articles from 2020. Did you miss any of them?

I’ve also shared a few of my reflections for the past year (including things I did right!)

Well-Being and Mental Health

1. Metacognitive Therapy: Exploring the Nature of Thought

Metacognitive therapy is a new form of therapy that focuses not on how to identify and change thoughts (like traditional cognitive therapies), but instead explores the nature of thought itself.

2. 7 Grounding Exercises: A Powerful Tool for When You Feel Overhwelmed

Grounding is a way to anchor yourself to the present moment when you’re feeling stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed. Here are 7 effective “grounding techniques” you can practice to become more relaxed and mindful.

3. Self-Reflexing: 7 Writing Prompts for Self-Growth

Writing is one of the most powerful ways to reflect and change your thinking. Here are 7 powerful writing prompts designed to encourage self-reflection and self-growth. Choose one and transform yourself!

4. The Right to Take Up Space

If someone doesn’t feel like they have the right to take up space in this world, they are going to get literally and figuratively walked over their entire life.

5. 3 Tiny Mental Habits I Practice Every Morning – In Less Than 5 Minutes

If you want to change your mindset, it’s often best to start as small as possible. Here are 3 tiny “mental habits” that I practice every morning, including 1) Identify One Strength, 2) Reflect on One Thing I’m Grateful For, and 3) Reframe One Negative thought.

6. Psychomagic: The Healing Wisdom of Alejandro Jodorowsky

“Psychomagic” is an approach to self-change that teaches you how to use the power of your imagination, creativity, symbolism, and rituals to transform yourself.

Habits and Motivation

7. The Complete Picture: Zooming In and Out to See Where You Want to Go In Life

If you want to get a more complete picture of where you are in life and where you want to go, it’s important you know how to “zoom in” and “zoom out” your perspective. This is a powerful type of reframe that everyone needs to know about.

8. Mental Rehearsal: Changing Habits Through the Power of Visualization

“Mental rehearsal” is the process of visualizing yourself performing a new habit or new behavior, so that you’re better prepared to perform that new habit in the real world.

9. Quantify Your Progress: Finding Ways to Measure Your Self-Improvement

If you can measure it, you can change it. Here’s how to quantify your progress in any area of self-improvement.

10. The Hedonic Treadmill: An Essential Insight for Maximizing Happiness

The “hedonic treadmill” is an essential concept to understand if you want to maximize the happiness in your life. The basic idea is that our “happiness set-point” often changes and adapts with ourselves and our environment.

11. The Power of “One Day At a Time”

When life gets difficult and unbearable, sometimes your only real option is to take things “one day at a time.” And that can be a powerful perspective to remind yourself.

12. 100+ Hacks for Boosting Your Happiness Chemicals

Here’s a complete list of 100+ hacks we can use to boost important “happiness chemicals” such as dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. These are the building blocks to living a happier and healthier life.

13. Your Digital Environment: How to Carve Out a Positive Space on the Internet

We are spending more time in our “digital environment” than ever before, which is why it’s so important to be aware of the ways it is influencing us and changing us. Here’s how to carve out a “positive space” for yourself on the internet.

Relationships and Communication

14. Conversation Threading: How to Never Run Out of New Things to Say

Do you have trouble keeping conversations going or easily run out of new things to say? Learn the powerful technique known as “conversation threading” to improve your daily social interactions.

15. Do Your Relationships Survive the Zombie Apocalypse Test?

You can learn a lot about someone by how they respond to a crisis. Do your relationships survive the “zombie apocalypse test” – or would they break apart under pressure?

16. Student, Mentor, and Peer: 3 Types of Friends You Need on the Road to Success

We need 3 types of friends to reach our maximum potential in life. The “Student, Mentor, and Peer” framework is a great lens to analyze your relationships and how they are serving your current goals and ambitions.

17. The Power of Simple Communication: Why Plain Language is Better Than Complex Jargon

Simple communication is often better than using complex language, especially if you are trying to reach out to the biggest audience possible. Learn the power of simplicity.

18. How a “Giving Mindset” Reframes What You Have and Sparks Gratitude

A “giving mindset” can empower you. When you dedicate your time, money, or energy to helping others, you are subconsciously saying to yourself, “I have plenty.”

19. Quiet Confidence and the Perils of Trying Too Hard

Everyone has their own version of confidence. When most people picture “confidence” in their minds, they see it as loud and boisterous – but confidence can also be very quiet and reserved.

20. I Feel You: Why Emotional Validation Is More Important Than Giving Advice

When someone talks about their problems, it’s tempting to want to help and offer advice. However, new research shows the most important thing is to just listen and validate their feelings.

3 Key Changes I Made This Year

Let me take a moment to highlight 3 key changes I made this year that I found had a big influence over my happiness and well-being.

1. Read more biographies

Reading is always a positive habit, but a lot of my reading has been focused on science, psychology, and philosophy stuff, so I wanted to make a conscious change to switch things up a bit this year.

While I have a strong understanding of the key principles behind self-improvement and success, I thought it would be a good idea to read more biographies to find some in-depth examples of these principles playing out in the real world.

I’m a big believer in the power of role models, and reading biographies is definitely one way to get more from your “role models” and learn from them.

Here’s a list of the biographies I read this year:

• The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
• Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler
• The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles
• American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the Whitehouse by John Meacham
• The Billionaire Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune by Conor O’Clery
• Henry Ford: My Life and Work by Henry Ford
• “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard Feynman

I focused on people from history, because history in general is a weak-point for me.

Keep in mind I’m not saying any of these people are perfect – they all had their flaws – but they all changed the world in one form or another too, so I knew there was something I could learn from them.

It was very motivating and inspiring to read about these amazing figures working their way through countless struggles and succeeding at something grand in life – almost more motivating than any self-improvement book, if I’m being honest!

I also got a chance to read a few other books:

• A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson
• Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges and Leaderboards by Yu-kai Chou
• Zero to One: Notes on Startups or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel
• The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales by Bruno Bettelheim
• Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose by Deirdre Barrett
• Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
• Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy by Alejandro Jodorowsky

In general, my reading habit is the strongest it’s ever been. I accelerated my learning a lot this year and branched out into many things I hadn’t been paying much attention to before. It feels good!

2. Follow positive news every day

We are what we consume, but so much of the information we find on the internet is negative and hostile.

This year I made a conscious effort to consume one positive news story every single day. I literally put “Positive News” on my daily to-do list.

I still have to explore more “positive news” sources, but I found most of mine at…

• /r/UpliftingNews
• “Good News” command on Alexa (usually updates every day)
• Good News Network
• Any positive news or studies I come across on my science feed (which has a lot more news sources)
• Any positive news a friend or family member shares with me
• Any positive news in my own life

One thing I learned is that positive news happens every day, you just need to pay more attention to it.

I also make it a point to share my “positive news” with at least one person (or somewhere on the internet). Instead of a “shoot the messenger” effect when someone shares bad news, I’ve been building a bless the messenger effect – I want people to associate me with good news.

While this sounds like a tiny habit, it has definitely boosted my mood this year. I’ve been recommending it to everyone!

3. Reframing The Emotion Machine

The biggest changes I’ve made this year were at The Emotion Machine.

First, I made a big shift in my “business approach” by removing all advertisements/sponsors and instead focusing exclusively on making this a membership site.

This has completely changed how I view The Emotion Machine and how I want to build it into the future. It’s also made me value my content more and focus less on cheap traffic/eyeballs. This is a big shift in my perspective that will only lead to better articles in the future.

I’ve embraced this paradigm shift by also changing up my logo/artwork/design. A good friend of mine worked together with me to come up with a new look (especially the brain/plug logo), and I’m really happy with how it came out!

Every year I say “This is the best year at The Emotion Machine!” but it’s honestly true because things keep growing, improving, and evolving.

Now more than ever I feel like I’m channeling my energy in the best possible direction – and I have nothing but hope and excitement for the future.

Make 2021 A Year of Self-Improvement

If you’re here and you’re still reading this, then you definitely have an interest in self-improvement.

To fully enjoy The Emotion Machine and make the most of 2021, consider joining the Inner Circle to get unlimited access to articles, quizzes, and downloads.

Please join us ––– let’s make 2021 a year of self-improvement and self-growth!

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