One thing that hurts when you swallow the red pill? Taking a good, objective look at yourself and realizing all the wrong turns you've made in life. If you're like me, you made quite a few. And the road to self improvement wasn't an easy one.

But hopefully, if you've been around for long, you've made the improvements and you've put in the work. Could you have done more? Maybe, but you've given it your best shot and you've improved where you can.

Sometimes it's the negative emotions that drive us to discipline and self-improvement. If you're like me, swallowing the red pill led to a certain amount of self-loathing, but I channeled that into productive ends; I embraced the pain and suffering and found the motivation to strive each and every day for self-improvement.

It's what first got me into the gym, it's what made me quit smoking, it's what got me to put effort into my appearance and how I dress, to go back to school, to work harder to achieve my goals, build wealth, and advance my career.

It's been almost 6 years since I first swallowed the red pill and started my journey toward self-improvement. I've achieved a lot.

But I'm not writing this to brag or boast, I'm not trying to inspire you (although that's great if it helps), what I'm really hoping to say is this: be a little nicer to yourself. They you're your own worst critic, and if you're like me, it's true. Over the years, the more improvements I've made, the LOWER my opinion has actually gotten. It seems like I figured 'if a little self-loathing is good, more must be better.' I never wanted to ease up on myself, I never wanted to give myself permission to feel good about myself. I didn't want to lay off because I was scared it might kill my motivation - after all, beating myself up was what drove me to self-improvement in the first place, so why stop now?

You don't need to wait until you're some multi-millionaire with a perfect physique and 6% body fat to feel good about yourself; I got news for you, that's probably never gonna happen. You don't need to wait until you sleep with every woman you chase after to feel like you're attractive to women; that's never gonna happen either!

I don't like hearing short guys on here talk about how you need to be 6 feet tall for women to like you. I don't like to hear about how the only way you can land a hot girlfriend is if you're white, either. Or about how 'lookism' is everything and you're doomed because of your inferior facial structure.

Virtually nobody on TRP will ever have an SMV of 10, no matter how much you maximize it. Look, you don't need a royal flush to enjoy a game of cards. Do whatever you can to maximize your SMV and then have fun, enjoy life, be kind, respectful and compassionate to yourself, give yourself permission to be confident, to be content in who you are, to approach the women you want. I know it's corny, but happiness isn't something you're going to receive when you achieve some reward in life. You're going to have dig a little deeper for that.

Give yourself permission to be happy TODAY, not when you achieve the perfect physique or start pulling 7 figures, not when you find that perfect girl or when you sleep with a hundred. Because listen: some (or all) of these goals you may never achieve--others, you you will achieve, but you'll find soon enough you find another excuse to make yourself miserable and another mountain you need to climb.

I'm not saying you shouldn't chase after goals and work as hard as you can, because you absolutely should. But you need to find fulfillment in the journey and not the destination because the journey's all the there ever was.

No one's going to respect you if you don't respect yourself. Working hard and striving for self-improvement is one half of that. Practicing kindness and compassion with yourself is the other.