We always like to compare ourselves with others: some people are born with golden keys in their mouths, and we can’t help but feel resentful; when we see others doing better than ourselves, we often feel jealous; when we get along with others , we feel that we are not good enough and always feel inferior.

I once had the same confusion. Everyone has these emotions to some extent. At that time, I always felt like I was worthless, which made me close myself off and often blame myself. This state has lasted for a long time, and even now I dare not say that I have completely escaped from this state.

Fortunately, because I like reading books, I can always answer some myths in the books. Once, I read Hemingway's "True Nobility". He defined nobility: Being better than others is not nobility. Real nobility lies in being better than one's past self. At that time, I didn’t have a deep understanding of this sentence. I just liked it very much and memorized it.

Later, I went through some hardships, and this sentence would come to my mind every time I was most depressed. Like the drum in the evening and the bell in the morning, it can often wake you up from the deep depression. Slowly, my understanding of this sentence became deeper and deeper. I think this is a wise saying. The meaning of life is to transcend oneself. Wang Yangming realized in Longchang: My nature is self-sufficient and I don’t pretend to be anything external. The same is true. Wang Yangming just started to "investigate things to gain knowledge" according to Zhu Xi's method and seek true knowledge from the outside world. However, he vomited blood after studying Zhuzige and found no reason for it. His philosophy of mind can be summed up in three words: "The heart is rational." As long as your heart is strong, everything in the outside world will naturally be used by you.

How great is human potential? No one can give a definite answer. But we can get some basis from some data. According to the Guinness Book of World Records for push-ups: the number of push-ups a person can do in one breath is 10,507, and the number of push-ups done in a row for 24 hours is 46,001. These numbers are jaw-dropping. We usually can’t move even after doing 100 push-ups. In fact, everyone has such potential, and those people have achieved this level through deliberate practice. Even for musicians such as Beethoven, who was considered a genius, his perfect pitch has always been considered a symbol of talent. Scientists trained 24 ordinary people to develop this ability through deliberate practice.

So how to practice? The book "Deliberate Practice" summarizes four steps: 1. Determine your goals and find the areas that interest you. 2. Find masters, experts or authoritative books in this field. 3. Summarize the reasons and methods for their success. 4. Invest a lot of time and energy in deliberate practice and get timely and effective feedback.

There is a Chinese idiom called practice makes perfect, and there is a similar sentence in English "practice makes perfect". This is a universal rule. As long as you do these four points, even if you cannot become a top genius, at least you will have no problem becoming a master.

The opening chapter of the Confucian classic "The Great Learning" clearly states: "After knowing and stopping, one will have concentration, and then one will be able to be still, and then one will be able to be at peace, and then be at peace, and then be able to think about it. After thinking about it, you will be able to gain." Introspect yourself, find your goals, find effective methods, practice deliberately, and you will become yourself.