What if you didn't exert effort to persuade people of anything? What if you didn't judge anyone or anything either? Self-improvement doesn't require you to convince people you're right or that your action is always justified. Rather, it's about sorting through your own ideas and perceptions to gain a sense of moving forward.  This doesn't affect anyone as directly as yourself. 

What if using your own progressive learning to induce behavior in others is unrelated to your own self-improvement?  Instead, it may distract you from the path you follow to greater self-awareness and udnerstanding.  You can become the type of person who makes the most of where you are right now. Learning is seldom linear or perceived as being completely logical by you or by anyone else for that matter.

What if seeking to improve means being open to learning at different levels of consciousness? Consider your mind retains information yet, all areas of your mind aren't aware of all others. As you learn to open your mind wider than before, you will realize more ideas are accessible to you than society generally leads you to believe. You decide what it means to improve and the most appropriate means to do so.