“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.”
— Epicurus

The moment you acquire something you desire, you stop wanting it, and start to feel a desire for the next thing. Desire is a never-ending feeling that that will spoil your happiness if you’re not careful.

Always remember to enjoy what you have. You can still pursue great things, just don’t make your happiness dependent on you acquiring them. If you can get them, great! If not, just smile and move on.

“I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself. “
— Elon Musk

Self-improvement is not a one-off event, it’s a constant process. A great way of doing it is to set up a positive feedback loop:

1. Recall the important actions you’ve taken in your life and the results

2. Identify which actions were good and which were bad

3. Keep the good things, repeat them; drop the bad things

If you repeat that very simple process, over and over, eventually you will build yourself a great life.

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
― Kahlil Gibran

The strongest people you meet have gone through the greatest hardships; that’s how they became strong.

Use that thought to motivate yourself when you’re going through hard times. If things are tough, it means that once you’re finished you’ll be a stronger person.