Climbing Step by Step
Since Adam fell from a high level into a world of mixed good and evil, every person must rise gradually, beginning with humility.
Why did Hashem first tell Adam to eat from every tree, including the Tree of Life, and then forbid it after the sin? The Noam Elimelech explains that Adam began on a lofty level in the upper worlds, called the Tree of Life, and was meant to stay there in holiness forever. The Tree of Knowledge represented the lower worlds; eating from it made him physical, and good and evil entered him. Once he had fallen, it was no longer fitting for him to grasp the Tree of Life all at once. He had to rise from the lowest rung to the highest, step by step. Since Adam's sin, the Rebbe teaches, this is the way of every person's avodah, and the first step upward is humility: remembering, as Adam was told, "for dust you are."
Source: Noam Elimelech, Bereishis, Lech Lecha (on Bereishis 2:16, 3:22–24 and 12:1)
When you want to grow, it is tempting to aim for the top of the ladder at once, and then give up when you cannot hold on. Pick one small step instead: one more line of davening said with meaning, five minutes of learning before bed, one kind word you usually leave unsaid. Keep it for a week before adding anything. And when you feel proud of your progress, remember the dust Adam came from. Humility is not a step back; it is the first rung.