Never limit yourself to accommodate the insecurities of others. Your goal is your own personal excellence – and as such do not curtail the development of your skills, self-confidence or courage for anyone. If you are working for someone who is threatened by excellence, you are working for the wrong person. If you are learning from someone who is threatened by excellence, you are learning the wrong lessons. If you are learning from a man who is scared of being eclipsed, you have already eclipsed him.

Look into yourself. Take a long time with this one. Really plunge deeply. Work through all the layers of propriety and social programming, all the things you've been told are important and all the things you just want for reasons of ego. Punch down through those layers and really find your heart's desire. What do you want to be? Ask yourself that, and keep asking until you find a clear and distinct answer. That answer is the meaning of your life. It will give you a clarity of purpose, a goal which you can focus on to rise above the irrelevant dramas of the present and something to move toward. No matter how wild or amazing it seems, hold to it. It is what you want the most. It is your Arete, your excellence. Picture it clearly and often. Never, ever let it go.