Socrates is purported to have said “The unexamined life is not worth living.” But what does that mean? While each of us is free to interpret it how we choose, to me it means that we must try to improve. Why else would we examine our life, if not to see where we could have done better, and then try to do so in the future.
I touched on this earlier when I wrote about success, and will expound on it today. By definition, if we are improving we are growing as human beings. It is up to each of us to choose how (or if) we improve. The problem, of course, it that improving ourselves is hard!
Whenever we learn something new, there is the initial learning curve followed by a plateau. But what makes us plateau? Why don’t we just keep improving? What is preventing our continuous improvement?
Well for one thing, continuous improvement is unnatural, in that we stop improving when we reach a level of proficiency consistent with our self-image. Maxwell Maltz said that to improve beyond that point, we must first change our self-image. That is, we must believe that we are capable of improving beyond that self-imposed limit.
Changing our self-image may be the first step, but that alone won’t do the trick. K. Anders Ericsson, a psychologist at Florida State University says that what is also needed is deliberate practice, and deliberate practice is hard work, which is why so few of us engage in it.
So the first step on the road to self-improvement is to realize that it, like success itself, is hard and therefore achieved by the minority. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be in the arena. What’s a little discomfort if it means reaching (or approaching) our potential?
The good news is that there is no shortage of areas in which most of us can improve. Diet, exercise, character, thinking skills, inter-personal skills, hobby skills, Ben Franklin’s 13 virtues, the list goes on and on.
So pick one and dive in. But remember, you will probably see some immediate improvement followed by a plateau. That may be good enough if that is all you want. But if your goal is more, if it is to get beyond that plateau, then understand that it is going to take deliberate practice on your part, which is hard work, but will undoubtedly be worth it in the long run. Carpe diem!