Addicted To Self-Improvement
The Addiction For Constant Improvement
Contrary to popular belief addiction is actually not a bad thing,
We always assume that it's bad because it is always associated with harmful things like sugar, phone addiction, the hub and other harmful things, however addiction to something productive is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
Think about someone very successful, someone you find inspiring and want to emulate,
Do you think he got to where he is because he was 'balanced?'
No bro, all these mega successful people we see are like that because they dedicated themselves to their craft to a crazy level,
Literally everything in their life revolved around that one thing that they love, just look at someone like Elon Musk, who literally learned how to make a rocket ship through teaching himself because they didn't have engineers, someone like Kobe who'd train like 2x the amount of the other players, someone like Alex Hormozi who slept on his own gym floor for 6 months because it was cheaper than getting an apartment.
These people are addicted to self-improvement, to constant challenge and learning,
And they wouldn't have gotten to where they are today if it wasn't for obsession, complete obsession on their work.
Nowadays we're fed the motion of 'work-life balance' and 'oh, don't work too much or too hard, you don't want to burn out because you did 5.37 extra minutes of work'
BS bro, it's ridiculous,
Understand that to get to a good level, to get to a high level things must shift focus, priorities must change and 'normal' things must go,
It sounds obvious to say but if you're normal you'll get normal results, to get abnormal results i.e; crazy results you need to do abnormal things, you need to do something different than that of the majority of the population.
Now okay, I'm not saying that you have to do insane things like not sleep at all or stay in your room 24/7 but I'm saying that there's nothing wrong with going hard on what you want and dedicating yourself much more than someone else would have.
Story Time :
My Dad loves books, like ACTUALLY loves them,
So much so that once I remember we went to a bookstore and I remember going through some books as you do, like looking at the covers, the authors, what it's about and all that,
And I remember how shocked I was when every book I'd pick out to show him, he'd tell me that he'd already have read it,
No joke bro I put the final book back and asked him,
'Okay since you read everything, what books in this shelf have you NOT read?'
And he was like;
'Just these 2',
And he showed me 2 books of people I've never heard before, on a subject that neither of us cared about,
Bro read the entire book shelf, not of the house, but of a damn BOOKSTORE.
Why am I telling you this?
Well, I want to show you that obsession over something you like is not a bad thing, it's what actually separates you from other people who also like that subject but aren't willing to take it as seriously as you do,
Just like my Dad getting a new book and reading it for 5 hours in a day, you also can do the same but in your own craft.
The Fuel To The Fire
This addiction to self-improvement comes from always wanting better than what you have, and knowing that you can get better.
Now when I say self-improvement you can substitute it with the words 'learning' or 'change' or 'progress' because ultimately that's what it is, these people who have this addiction want to get what they want above everything else, and are willing to sacrifice other things to get it.
This species of people is constantly learning and evaluating and tweaking, making minor improvements every single day,
The Improvement Never Stops.
When they say that you should be a lifelong learner, this is what they mean.
Education doesn't start or stop with school, it should be something that complements it.
Now when you're like these types of people don't expect everyone to like you or to understand you, and you have to understand this so you don't get your feelings hurt,
Understand that people have different goals than you do, and they might try to make you feel bad for going after your goals because they're scared to work towards theirs,
Remember, as corny as it sound 'hate doesn't come from someone above you, it comes from someone below'
They'll try to steer you off course because they see that you're doing better than them.
I've never seen someone better than me criticize me in a disrespectful way because I made a mistake, only the dwellers and the goblins,
Now, enough wishy washy stuff.
I remember it so clearly, when I was in college (16-18yo) we'd have break time, like the time between lectures, and this is how I would spend it;
I'd either go find an empty class room (I preferred it over the library), eat my lunch there and read or I'd go spend the time meditating in the bathroom,
I laugh as I think about it now,
And if you ask me if I regret it I'll tell you no, I'd do exactly the same now.
Some people might say it's weird to do that, and I get that,
But me being a shy guy, having different goals than the other students I was most comfortable alone, doing things that ultimately made me a better man.
What You'll Realise On Your Journey
Something you'll realise as you're progressing and getting more and more addicted to self-improvement is that, yes smashing goals is nice, but in the end they come and go,
What will ALWAYS be with you is yourself,
And that's why the most important thing about self-improvement is about who you're becoming, because you're becoming better than you were previously, and that's something to be proud of.
And ultimately becoming that man requires learning, so if you want to know the 5 BEST books that I read on my journey you'll find this article interesting :
