Curing a besserwisser

Recently, a person said that I am a selfish and like that wouldn't be enough, that I am a besserwisser. Uh, ok, I thought. A bit later, another person said the same thing. Somewhat too much for a coincidence, so I asked some friends I trust of their opinion. They answered very politely, but did not immediately shoot down the idea as absurd, which confirms my concern. I guess I am selfish and a besserwisser. These attributes are not directly flattering, whereby I would like to try to improve my habits. Let us thus think the besserwisser thing through.

Firstly, there are three different perspectives to being a besserwisser. 1) A person might actually know better than another in an objective sense. 2) A person might think that he knows better than another person in an subjective sense. 3) A person might be perceived as if he knows better. It is immediately clear that how one is perceived is the key here. Irrespective if one objectively knows more or not, one can be perceived as a besserwisser. Likewise, even if one doesn't self believe to know better, one can still be perceived as a besserwisser (although this is probably less likely).
I would therefore claim that being a besserwisser is essentially a problem in communications alone. Still I have to quickly add that attitude also plays an important role; for a person that honestly believes that he knows better (however true or false that is), it will be very difficult to not communicate it. On the other hand, a deeply respected person could say the same things, be a besserwisser best he can, but he will not be perceived as a besserwisser since it is well known that he knows better. Curious, isn't it?

From my own perspective this clearly means that I am not a deeply respected person, at least in the eyes of these persons. I can live with that. It follows that I must improve my communication to avoid being perceived as a besserwisser. That is kind of obvious, don't you think?