My Only Goal: Improve Daily

In my moments of quiet reflection, I always ask myself the same few questions.

Am I improving? Are my choices and actions moving me closer to the person I want to be? Have I made progress over the past day/week/month/year?

These are often followed by questions of self-flagellation: Why did I say that? What was I thinking? Why did I make that decision?

As I first began thinking about writing this piece, it was focused on regrets. Not the huge, life-altering, keep-you-awake-all-night-and-think-about-what-might-have-been regrets, but rather what I think of as micro-regrets: the dumb thing you said to your crush in college; not making the effort to attend that nice person’s retirement party; making a dumb joke that falls flat and makes things awkward.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that, for me, they go hand-in-hand: my regrets are regrets because they are the results of decisions of the person I’m working to not be.

Zeno said, “Well-being is realized by small steps, but is truly no small thing.” Tiny, daily improvements can build on themselves like compound interest.

I want to be a better husband, father, son, brother, friend, colleague, leader, businessman, confidant. I want to be smarter, healthier, and more in control of my emotions. These aren’t accomplished with huge, sweeping changes, but small, incremental ones that are repeated and perfected day after day.

I’m certainly not perfect at any of these and I oftentimes fail at even being as good at most of them as I would like to be, but as a soon-to-be forty-three year-old looking back on the years, I can confidently say that I am clearly better at virtually all of those aspects than I was at twenty-three and thirty-three.

I hope I can say the same when I’m fifty-three and sixty-three.

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Christopher Pierznik is the worst-selling author of nine books. His work has appeared on XXL, Cuepoint, Business Insider, The Cauldron, Fatherly, Hip Hop Golden Age, and many more. Follow him on Facebook or drop him an email.