An optimal challenge stretches you to the end of what you could do and then into the domain of how you can transform. You have to be humble and wise enough to understand that you might have to aim pretty low, especially in those places where you are not functioning well. And it might be so embarrassing that you cannot fathom this is who you actually are. You must lose the arrogant ego because it is precisely what is interfering with your movement forward.
It is part of the adversarial process, mythologically speaking, that stops moral progress. You are too proud of who you think you are to notice what you are actually like, which prevents you from changing properly. You do not want to sacrifice that part of yourself. It is probably associated with some delusion that helps you maintain a positive, although very fragile, self-image. In the absence of genuine effort, it is not to be recommended.
You get to know who you are by watching yourself and paying attention. It is not the same as thinking, and it is not imagination either. That is the beginning, and then you challenge yourself continually to see how far past yesterday you can push today and tomorrow.
