What is self-improvement?

Recently I got an email from a reader who was upset at a recent string of failed efforts. He kept getting into a cycle of becoming really motivated, making some new habits or plans, and then having them crash down around him a few weeks later, leaving him even more depressed than before.

In talking with him, I realized there’s a useful concept that can help you think about what self-improvement actually is (when it works) so you can avoid these sorts of mistakes.

1. Two Kinds of Improvement

First, I need to draw a distinction.

Sometimes when people talk about self-improvement, they’re really talking about acquiring some kind of success in the world.

Maybe you keep doing what you’re doing, and you earn more money, make better friends, get in great shape and travel to exotic places.

This kind of improvement is an improvement to what I’ll call your life situation. These are the assets you have that improve the quality of your life without necessarily changing who you are as an individual.

2. Imagine Swapping Places with Someone Rich, Fit and Popular

To see what I mean, imagine a Freaky Friday-like situation where your consciousness were miraculously swapped with someone who was much more successful than you. You look like they look, you’re friends with their friends, you’re as rich as they are. What changes in your life? What stays the same?

Aside from the sudden shock, you may find some of your problems in life go away. The sudden increase in assets you possess (both financial and non-financial) may itself solve a lot of problems.

Then again, as is always the trope with these stories, you may find some of your problems don’t go away. Indeed, you may still struggle with some of the issues you had before. You may end up squandering the money, health or relationships that your body-swapped double had created.

3. External Improvement Versus Self-Improvement

External improvement is the kind of improvement that could be gained (or lost) by the body-swapping scenario. Money, fitness, credentials, status, friends, etc. are all external improvements.

Self-improvement is the kind of improvement that wouldn’t change in that scenario. Habits, thought patterns, confidence, beliefs, learned skills and behaviors are all internal improvements.

Obviously the two kinds of improvements influence each other. Being rich may start to improve your confidence. Similarly, being disciplined and frugal may start to make you rich. The two interact in all sorts of complicated ways.

4. Thinking About Self-Improvement

Although external improvement is important, self-improvement is the thing which is usually worth acting on. This is because any external improvement that doesn’t arise from self-improvement is from circumstances or factors outside your control.

Winning the lottery may be great, but if you’re broke right now, that’s not a strategy to bank on. Instead you need to put away more money, earn more and invest wisely, and that starts by changing your own behaviors, skills and habits.

Given this difference in external improvement and self-improvement, I can now introduce another concept: your total life strategy.

5. Your Total Life Strategy

Your total life strategy is a collection of every habit, behavior and thought pattern, conscious and unconscious, that you use to solve the problems you have in life, meet your needs and stay alive.

Think of yourself as an organism, that has needs and goals, that needs to survive in your environment. Obviously, your needs, goals and environment are much more complex than most simple organisms, but the same principle remains. How do you get what you need, avoid what will hurt you and reach your goals?

To solve this problem, you develop a collection of thoughts, behaviors and habits to deal with all the different challenges you face in life.

Sometimes your strategies will be pretty good. Maybe you exercise regularly, don’t overeat and get plenty of sleep.

Other times your strategies will be terrible. Maybe you procrastinate all semester on studying and then cram right before the final exam, only to barely squeeze by.

The point to understand is that your total life strategy represents some kind of response to the challenges in your life. Importantly, this includes both consciously intended goals and tactics, but also a lot of behaviors that are driven by feelings and intuitions where the reasons are often opaque.

6. Self-Improvement is Adjusting Your Total Life Strategy

This brings us to the titular question: what is self-improvement? By this understanding, self-improvement is any change you try to make to your total life strategy.

External improvement needs to be separate here, of course, because it’s possible to have one’s fortunes rise or fall without fundamentally changing who they are as a person. Self-improvement, in contrast, must change who you are as a person.

In addition to this understanding of self-improvement, I think there are two useful additional concepts that help make the task of improving oneself more clear.

6.1. Stable Strategies (Imperfectly) Solve Your Problems

Any total life strategy you have that persists must be stable. In order to be stable, it must reduce the problems you have enough so that they’re at least at a local minimum.

Think of water flowing. It always wants to go downhill. Closer to the center of the earth is the place where it wants to go. However, sometimes it might get trapped on a mountain lake. This is because there’s a local depression surrounded by higher sides so that, in order to get out, it must go uphill first. Water can’t do this, so it stays stuck, even though it wants to go all the way to the bottom.

Your life, in a sense, is like this kind of problem. You’re trying to meet your needs and goals = going downhill. Sometimes, however, your strategies aren’t very effective = being on the mountain lake. However, if your strategies are stable, then there must be something holding them up there, otherwise you’d settle into a better way of doing things.

Knowing this means that often self-improvement is a delicate act of engineering. Sometimes you may be trying to siphon the water from a higher lake to a lower reservoir below. You may need to pump the water up somewhere higher first, before it can settle down somewhere else.

6.2. Conscious Willpower is Extremely Limited

The second problem of self-improvement is that most of your total life strategy is executed below the threshold of your awareness.

Sometimes this is because your attention is elsewhere, and if you paid really close attention, you could notice things you’re doing now that you currently ignore. Other times, this is because the brain circuits that execute the behavior are not open to introspection. Therefore, all you have are impulses and feelings, but you may not understand why you have them or how to change them.

I recently received an email from a reader who was frustrated with a series of failed efforts. He keeps getting stuck in a cycle where he'll get really motivated, develop some new habit or plan, and then a few weeks later they'll crash around him, leaving him even more depressed than before.

After talking with him, I realized that there is a useful concept that can help you think about what true self-improvement is (if it works) so you don't make these kinds of mistakes.

6.2.1 Two improvements

First, I want to make a distinction.

Sometimes when people talk about self-improvement, they're actually talking about some kind of success in the world.

Maybe you'll keep doing what you're doing and you'll make more money, make better friends, stay healthy, and travel to exotic places.

This improvement is what I will call an improvement in your living situation. These are assets you have that improve your quality of life without necessarily changing who you are as an individual.

Imagine swapping places with rich, healthy, popular people

To see what I mean, imagine a Freaky Friday-like situation where your consciousness is miraculously swapped with someone far more successful than you. You look like them, you're their friend's friend, you're as rich as they are. How has your life changed? what remains the same

Beyond the sudden shock, you may find that some of your life's problems disappear. A sudden increase in wealth (both financial and non-financial) can solve many problems by itself.

On the other hand, as is the case with these stories, you may find that some of your problems don't go away. In fact, you may still be struggling with some of the problems you had before. You could end up wasting money, health, or your body exchanging double created relationships.

External Improvement vs. Self-Improvement

External enhancements are types of enhancements that can be gained (or lost) through body swap scenarios. Money, health, references, status, friends, etc. are all external enhancements.

Self-improvement is an improvement that doesn't change in this situation. Habits, thought patterns, confidence, beliefs, learned skills and behaviors are all internal improvements.

Clearly, these two improvements interact with each other. Being rich can start to boost your confidence. Likewise, being disciplined and frugal can make you rich. The two interact in various complex ways.

Thoughts on Self-Improvement

While external improvements are important, self-improvement is often something worth taking action. This is because any external improvement that does not come from self-improvement is due to circumstances or factors beyond your control.

Winning the lottery can be great, but it's not a strategy you can rely on when you're broke. Instead, you need to save more, earn more and invest wisely, and that starts with changing your own behaviours, skills and habits.

Given this difference between external improvement and self-improvement, I can now introduce another concept: your overall life strategy.

6.2.2. Your overall life strategy

Your Whole Life Strategy is the collection of all the conscious and subconscious habits, behaviors and thought patterns you use to solve your life's problems, meet your needs and stay alive.

Think of yourself as an organism that has needs and goals and must survive in your environment. Obviously your needs, goals and environment are much more complex than most simple organisms, but the same principles hold. How do you get what you need, avoid what hurts you, and achieve your goals?

To combat this, develop a set of thoughts, behaviors, and habits that address all the different challenges you face in life.

Sometimes your strategy is really good. Maybe you exercise regularly, don't overeat, and sleep a lot.

Other times, your strategy will be terrible. Maybe you procrastinated on studying for an entire semester, then crammed in before a final exam and just barely passed.

The thing to understand is that your entire life strategy is a response to the challenges in your life. Importantly, this includes both conscious goals and strategies, as well as many behaviors driven by feelings and intuitions, the reasons for which are often obscure.

Self-improvement is adjusting your overall life strategy

Which leads to the title question: What is self-improvement? In this understanding, self-improvement is any change you try to make to your overall life strategy.

External improvements are of course to be separated here, as one's fortunes may rise or fall without fundamentally changing one's character. Instead, self-improvement requires changing who you are as a person.

In addition to this understanding of self-improvement, I think there are two useful additional concepts that help to bring clarity to the task of self-improvement.

1. The stable strategy (imperfect) solves your problem

Any ongoing overall life strategy must be stable. In order to be stable, it needs to reduce the problem you're having to at least a local minimum.

Think tap water. It always wants to go downhill. The place closer to the center of the earth is where he is going. However, sometimes it can be caught in alpine lakes. This is because there is a partial sink surrounded by high sides, so to get out you have to go uphill first. Water can't do that, so even if it tried to go all the way down, it would get stuck.

Your life is kind of like that kind of problem. You're struggling to meet your needs and goals = it's going downhill. However, sometimes your strategy is not very effective = in mountain lakes. However, if your strategies are stable, there must be something holding them up, or you'll settle down to better ways of doing things.

Knowing this means that self-improvement is often a delicate act of engineering. At times, you might try to suck water from a higher lake into a lower reservoir below. You may have to pump the water higher before it settles elsewhere.

2. Conscious willpower is extremely limited

The second problem with self-improvement is that most of your overall life strategies are executed below the threshold of your consciousness.

Sometimes that's because your attention is elsewhere, and if you're really paying close attention, you might notice things you're doing that you're currently ignoring. In other cases, it's because the brain circuits that perform the behavior aren't receptive to introspection. So, all you have are impulses and feelings, but you may not understand why you have them, and you don't know how to change them.

Since conscious willpower is limited, this means that you generally cannot change your entire life strategy through acts of courageous self-determination. Sometimes you can make big changes seemingly quickly, but this is only when your strategy structure is almost at an inflection point and is ready to descend into another stable state.

Most of the time you won't be able to do this. Instead, you must take your time, moving carefully and deliberately in the direction of self-improvement.

The impact of your overall life strategy

Any process of self-improvement must begin with recognizing who this person is trying to fix. Then he has to ask himself what small, steady changes to make to become the one who solves the problem.

7. Topic related questions

7.1. What exactly is self-improvement and why is it important for personal growth?

Self-improvement is the conscious pursuit of developing oneself through various activities and practices to enhance personal growth, productivity, and happiness. It's important because it helps individuals to discover their potential and reach their full capabilities.

7.2. How can one start their journey of self-improvement and what are some effective strategies for achieving success?

Starting your self-improvement journey requires a strong commitment to change and a willingness to learn and grow. Some effective strategies for success include setting clear goals, developing a growth mindset, and cultivating daily habits that promote positive change.

7.3. What are some common obstacles individuals face when trying to improve themselves, and how can they overcome these challenges?

Some common obstacles individuals face include lack of motivation, fear of failure, and negative self-talk. To overcome these challenges, individuals can use techniques like visualization, goal-setting, and self-reflection to stay focused and motivated, and develop a positive and growth-oriented mindset.