I recall reading in some Buddhist text somewhere something along the line of your ego (self-esteem) needs to be just strong enough to be able to let itself go. Too strong and we want to hold on to it, and too weak and we want to be rid of it, so it's what I like to call the Goldilocks rule: The middle path for self-esteem means that it has to be
juuussst right. But the problem is no one wants what could then be labeled mediocre self-esteem
.
A person is perfect as they are, and when they work to better themselves that work is also perfect as it is. The "new" person is just as perfect as the "old" person. As the (perfect) process flows we flow (perfectly) with it, or such is the non-goal of self-improvement. In other words, just because you are perfect now does not mean that you can't be better later. Right? Now is now, and zen is zen.