I recently went through my Evernote app and found a bunch of memos I wrote to myself around 4 years ago. I figured I'd post some of them here for guys who are looking to improve

There is nothing worst than complacency. A quiet ease will slowly strangle opportunities and outcomes. When your world isn't expanding, it's shrinking.

The opposite of that is growth. Growth is one of the highest principles.

If you only have one goal in life, it should be to grow: to develop new skills, gain knowledge, and accumulate experience. If you just did and this alone, you would be unstoppable.

But learning and growth can't occur simply from reading books or watching educational videos. The process of growth of one of trial and error, of making mistakes, and paying attention to feedback.

In order to practice growth, you must risk well, work with focus, and learn often.

Without risk and without failure, there is no growth. When everything comes easy, you haven't reached your limit. You must push yourself harder than anyone else. And shouldn't simply take random risks, but you should be good at taking risks - and thus you must occasionally take them as practice.

In order to truly grow, you must risk failure. If something is too easy, it might be worth seeking out a bigger challenge.

Embracing risk and going through obstacles isn't just about the direct reward. Instead, it's about developing courage and discipline.

When faced with a myriad of choices, one consideration is the practical educational value of each. What additional skills and knowlege will either path bring. Usually, that route is also the more painful or scary one.

“You are unfortunate in my judgment, for you have never been unfortunate. You have passed through life with no antagonist to face you; no one will know what you were capable of, not even you yourself.” — Seneca

We've all met someone who faced little difficulty in their life. The might be pleasant, but they rarely have grit.

In some respects they may have a variety of experiences, but they are also soft. They might be intelligent, but they often lack depth.

People say they wish they had a life without difficulties or problems. But could you imagine a television show or movie in which the characters encountered no problems..

In short, they've never been trained to shoulder responsibility and follow through.

Failure is not a permanent state. It is simply feedback. Failure itself is an opportunity to learn and grow.

Playing it safe may minimize the potential for harm. But it also minimizing the potential for reward.

Don't simple take risks, get good at taking risks.