Are all self-improvers in principle created equal, or is self-improvement much harder for some than it is for others?*
Anna Katharina Schaffner

Creativity doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes.**
Seth Godin

The author of the blog Clothes Make the Man was being interviewed on the radio show I was listening to this morning. The subject being the comeback of flares.

Whilst clothes do not make a person, many of us, including myself, enjoy finding the clothes we feel most in tune with. I can also remember flares from the first time they were with us: I had a pair of 28″ flared trousers: definitely not something I would ever want to wear again.

We each have our rules and codes about clothing: shirts to be worn outside of jeans but inside of trousers, et cetera.

It’s Anna Katharina Schaffner’s question that is more important to me than whether flares will make a comeback and what will be the next fashion after this one. Her book is exploring self-improvement through the centuries and identifies ten timeless practices.

At the heart of all of this is the question: What does it mean to you to be human?

Is to be human a fixed existence, or is it one of endless development, or somewhere in-between?

Our answer will likely affect what happens next.

*From Anna Katharina Schaffner’s The Art of Self-Improvement;
**From Seth Godin’s The Practice.