The aim of life is self-development. To realize ones nature perfectly that is what each of us is here for.

Becoming fully yourself sounds soft until you notice how much of a life is spent becoming somebody else’s idea instead. The claim is that the work is not to improve into a standard shape but to develop what is actually there, which is a different and more specific task. It requires knowing your own nature well enough to tell the difference between growth and imitation. Plenty of self-improvement is quietly the second thing.

Look at something you are currently trying to become. Ask whose picture it is. If you cannot find yourself anywhere in the answer, that is worth another look before you spend more years on it.