The challenge is seeing that process through.

Self-development is an art.

It takes time. It requires patience. It asks you to step outside your comfort zone. It is challenging — and that’s the point.

However, the biggest challenge when it comes to self-development is the process itself. People really struggle with the path and all its twists and turns, much more than they do any single obstacle.

But should you learn how to walk that path of self-development, you will learn some tried truths to live by:

1. Any failure can be reframed as a lesson.

Self-development is a mindset.

To one person, a project going poorly or a relationship ending means they failed. To someone else, it is nothing more than another lesson on the path.

By reframing to see the lesson instead of the mistake, you will ultimately learn more and move on to what’s next faster.

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In fact, it was probably the most influential gift I’ve ever received.

It would help me find my true calling, become a writer at the Huffington Post, and go on a 5-month road trip across America by myself.

You know what it was?

One of these…

A journal.

A freaking journal.

Here are 4 Life-Changing Benefits Of Daily Journaling

You’d think that sitting down and putting pen to paper wouldn’t be that life-changing of a practice.

In this article you’ll learn four things..

1. Why journaling’s the secret to not getting angry/upset much anymore.
2. How it can show you why certain strategies work and don’t work.
3. How writing can teach you to be more “present” in your everyday life.
4. How journaling will help you become incredibly self-aware (the MOST IMPORTANT benefit by a long-shot).

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Think about it: The whole goal of improving your productivity is to reach the point where you never have to think about how to be more productive. The whole point of pursuing happiness is to reach the point where one no longer has to think about being happy. The whole point of improving your relationships is so that you can enjoy some drama-free cunnilingus in the McDonald’s drive-thru without almost crashing the car.

(Still working on that last one.)

Self-improvement is therefore, in a weird way, ultimately self-defeating.

The only way to truly achieve one’s potential, to become fully fulfilled, or to become “self-actualized” (whatever the fuck that means), is to, at some point, stop trying to be all of those things.

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The people posing this question almost invariably feel terrible about themselves, and further, they assume that’s par for the course. It isn’t. In fact this whole “self-love vs self-improvement” thing is a false dilemma, one that badly misunderstands the role of self-love.

This equates loving yourself with thinking you’re just fine the way you are. It treats self-love as a reward for being the person you want to be. It assumes that your self-regard should be based, in some sense, on you being objectively “good.” And conversely, it equates wanting to change with disliking yourself. But ask yourself- is this true of your love for other people?

If you love someone else, surely that means you want the best for them? You want them to be healthy, happy and successful. If you have children, you want them to do well in school. If a friend is unhappy with their life, you want their life to change so they’ll be happy.

Apply the same standards to yourself that you do to others- love yourself the way you love your friends and family. Decide to be better because you deserve better; because you love yourself and want to enable yourself to live your ideal life.

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