When I was a kid growing up, my favorite fictional characters in comic books, TV shows, anime, or manga were always the characters that didn’t have any kind of superhuman gifts besides a dedication to hard work, and continual self improvement. Batman (the entire Bat family, really,) Rock Lee, Link, Goku…these were the bread and butter heroes of my youth. They stood toe to toe with gods and demons, and they did so through working out, learning new skills and techniques, and maintaining dogged determination.
These characters birthed in me a desire to excel and stand tall among my peers through my own hard work, training, and relentless determination. I carried this desire into my adulthood and built my entire philosophy for living around it. I call it the Philosophy of Perpetual Improvement. The idea behind this philosophy is to work on continually improving oneself in whatever ways you are capable, at any given time.
The great thing about this philosophy is that it is incredibly adaptive. The idea of personal improvement is based entirely upon your current condition and position in life. When I first started working out, I only had my mom’s three pound plastic dumbbells and velcro ankle weights, so I learned whatever dumbbell exercises I could and just did a million reps until I couldn’t go any further, trying to increase my rep count every time. There were times after injury where I couldn’t use my legs much due to recovering from injuries, so instead I trained my upper body and grip strength. Then again, there were of course times when I was firing on all cylinders, able to push myself through every workout and make serious gains.
The philosophy goes beyond physical improvement, of course. I strive to continually expand my knowledge of everything that I can learn about (this is kind of the Batman principle,) picking up whatever skills I can in the process as well. This, too, is adaptive. For a while, I was working a job pulling overnight shifts. Long, twelve hours stints where I didn’t see a soul. So, I picked up an Audible membership and some earbuds for my phone, and used this time to listen to audiobooks to expand my knowledge on a whole host of subjects.
I believe that this idea of perpetual improvement is kind of a required part of the “Hero’s Mindset,” you know? By seeking to better myself constantly, I become a more capable member of society and in doing so, increase my ability to help others. For instance: picking up the basics of plumbing, electrical work, and carpentry allowed me to save time and money on maintenance of my own house, of course, but it’s also allowed me to help dozens of friends and family members with their own household tasks and upkeep. Practicing strongman and powerlifting moves gave me the strength and skills to help friends move heavy furniture, pick people up when they’ve fallen (literally or emotionally,) or be the world’s best moving buddy.
Sure, the idea of being a Hero is to become the most super version of yourself, but it also has to encompass helping others. The philosophy of perpetual improvement ensures that not only will your progressively be able to help yourself, you’ll also be able to help those you love and care about, and yes, even total strangers! If I hadn’t spent years working out and pretending I was Goku or Nightwing, I would never have had the strength to help push people’s cars out of the snow or mud when they got stuck, or help them move and clear downed branches and trees after a storm.
Everything you can do to improve your knowledge or body can eventually become a boon not just to yourself, but to everyone around you that you interact with. I encourage you to adopt my philosophy of perpetual improvement as your own. Strive to constantly better yourself in whatever way you can, physically, mentally, and emotionally. It will only help you in the end.
That’s it for today. Until next time, as always, remember to live boldly, change the world, and continue to be awesome.
Dan Wallace
