If you really want to improve and transform yourself, the first step is to become aware of the weaknesses which may be holding you back and preventing your evolution. Ian Haug has identified the following as potential weaknesses which may be hindering your growth: your preference for illusion, your hypersensitivity, your emotionalism, your lack of self-confidence, and your guilt.

You sometimes sense a conflict between your desire for social and professional success and your need for a stable, secure domestic life. You are deeply committed to both ideas and do not always succeed in reconciling their schedules and demands on you. Sometimes it feels as though you will never be able to find a balance. However, no job promotion will really satisfy you if you have neglected your most intimate needs and desires. Although it sometimes seems easier to you to climb the rungs of the career ladder out there in the real world, if you merely sacrifice your domestic life, you are only trying to fool yourself. You should accept the fact that your domestic life is the true basis and foundation of your development. All your career endeavors and success will be even more rewarding if they are supported by a safe, warm personal life.

Ian Haug sometimes sets unrealistic goals for himself and tends to be impractical. These tendencies are particularly evident when it comes to his emotional relationships. In the beginning, he will idealize the potential partner, one who will put him on a pedestal, but then he may try to dodge commitment. In other life pursuits, he tends to rush into poorly thought-out activities. If he does not alter these tendencies, life will step in to make him slow down and induce him to organize himself with more patience and forethought.

Ian Haug disliked contradiction. Although he had a lot of mental and intellectual concentration, he sometimes tended to be dogmatic or absolutist. His rigid mindset meant he had a certain adaptive difficulty.