In every mortal birth the child is immersed in water in the mother's womb. At the appointed time the spirit enters the body, and blood always flows in the veins of the new person. Otherwise, without each of these, there is no life, no birth, no mortality.
In every birth into the kingdom of heaven, the newborn babe in Christ is immersed in water, he receives the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and the blood of Christ cleanses him from all sin. Otherwise, without each of these there is no Spirit-birth, no newness of life, no hope of eternal life.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “A New Witness for the Articles of Faith"
The fact of the matter is that we need to have a spiritual birth. We need to become new creatures in Christ. How can we do that?
Firstly, we need to repent daily. We need to be aware of our follies and mistakes and then be better. Only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ can we be better in the first place. His blood cleanses us and purifies us. That process is called repentance.
Secondly, we need to follow Jesus Christ. He is our Example. This means that we do, or try to, what He did on earth. We live how He lived. We belong to His true church that has His authority. We become how He is. That will take a long while but, using the daily repentance piece and Christ's Atonement, we will get better little by little until we are like Him.
Someday we shall be like Him. Not in this life but this life is where we get on the path that leads to the end. Once we're on that path, and there's only one, we will get there.