Exactly my thoughts. "I love and accept myself, exactly as I am." seems like an entirely defeatist attitude, and one that completely discounts the idea of self-improvement.

I think the mantras above might be important for a person who struggles with criticising things they can't change about themselves, height, beauty, hair loss, age, that sort of thing.

I agree that it comes across defeatist using these mantras in relation to things you can change, like skills, outlook, fitness, number and/or quality of relationships.

Great distinction. I agree 100%.

Squaring the circle here: I love and accept myself right now, with all the flaws I know I have. I'm trying to improve, but who knows what I will and won't ultimately fix. Maybe this old lump of coal never will be a diamond. But I'm not going to wait til I've climbed the asymptote to start loving myself, I can just love the self I'm stuck with here and now.

I like the idea, but I'm also not a fan how they phrase it. For me I have two voices in my head. One is the nice voice telling me the affirmations, the other is a very harsh voice telling me that I still have work to do. It's a balancing act and you can't just listen to one voice.

I feel like I must have some sort of different personality type from those with these comments having one or perhaps even more than one "voice" in their head that talks to them

There is no silver bullet for growth. Some people need to actively seek to be more critical, others need to make that criticism more constructive, or be less harsh on themselves.

Have you considered seeing those lines less as the desirable inner monologue of the person, but rather as an exercise to shift that inner monologue to a more positive mindset ?

"I love and accept myself, exactly as I am" and "I am a person striving everyday to improve in multiple dimensions" are not mutually exclusive! It sounds like a paradox but I think that's a result of our imprecise language. Accepting yourself and improving yourself are two side of the same coin.