To progress differently from this moment, at this stage in your life, requires that you realize its not your job to "improve" per se.  In fact, at a very basic level, each human being represents perfection.  To reframe your sense of progress in this life, reframe your thinking based on the nature of your choices.  That is, each choice you make to love and forgive is to reclaim the power that fear had stolen from you.

1) Recognize when your beliefs are “out of whack.” If your mindset isn’t helping you realize dreams, it’s hindering you. To identify this is a first step to positive change. If you disregard an issue, then it doesn’t phase you or influence you. Yet, if it turns out ego and pride drive you, then you are thwarting your potential for new forms of success. Learn to see through the excuses and defenses you offer to explain procrastination or distractions. To permit a protective ego to control you means you choose to lose sight of your soul’s driving force.

2) Figure out what motivates you. Take the time you need. You only compete with yourself. What motivates you evolves with your level of self-awareness. How well you sense you know yourself directly relates to your sense of fulfillment. Resist judging or rejecting perceived alternatives based on what you’ve been told is good or bad. Be honest. Evaluate with an open-heart. Admit what no longer works, what no longer feels right, what causes guilt or discomfort. Your past choices led you here but they don’t define you. Take steps to redefine inner progress.

3) Nurture courage and self-growth. Dream-building is the act of willfully stretching yourself in enriching directions. You may decide to do something yet, it’s another thing altogether to actually do it. Begin to see beneath your excuses to zero in on hidden fears.  Move beyond rationalizing why you aren’t doing what you want to do. You can stop denying the truth as you sense it. Be prepared to learn from every experience. Get in touch with how your ego sets you up and transcend it. 

4) Believe opportunities exist. To come as far as you already have tells you that you hold a degree of faith in yourself. You care what happens or you wouldn’t exert effort. You love yourself enough to go a certain distance. What would it take to love, support and encourage yourself more? Trust options that strengthen your resolve, your self-confidence and inspiration. It makes sense to believe you’re more than adequate, highly-talented, and ready to seize opportunities at the right time.

5) Master your feelings. How you feel offers clues about your authentic self and what you seek to do with your life. Success comes in different forms, but its truth must be felt at your core. As you uncover feelings that were conditioned in your past, it’s up to you to learn to recognize the power they may still have over your mind and perception. You need to confront the shadows of yourself that you have been avoiding, qualities or feelings you dislike, in order to grasp they are illusions.