Stay Humble, Stay Hungry
25 January, 2024
When we’re learning or doing something, there comes a point at which we possess a certain level of skill or proficiency. While we might not be experts, we’ve gone well beyond the basics.
With that level of skill or proficiency comes confidence. And a bit of arrogance. I don’t mean to write arrogance in the pejorative. What I mean by that is we sometimes get an inflated, or at least distorted, idea of our abilities.
We figure that we’re further along the road of mastery or expertise than we really are. We assume that we’ve learned enough or that we’re at a point where we can idle or coast. We’re no longer as hungry for success, for progress as we were when we started.
That attitude slows us us down. That attitude keeps us from achieving our goals.
I’ve fallen victim to that attitude a few times and learned the hard way how damaging that attitude can be. I’ve learned how that attitude can derail motivation.
The solution? Stay humble. These days, humility is treated like a four-letter word. It isn’t. Humility isn’t a sign of weakness. Humility isn’t a stain.
Humility is a realization. A realization that we’ve come some distance from where and who we once were, but that we know we have quite a ways further to go.
Humility is understanding that the skills and knowledge and experience we’ve gained will take us only so far. For some of us that might be enough. Others need more.
That realization keeps us hungry. Knowing that we have more to learn, more to understand, more room to grow pushes us forward to achieve our goals, to reach the end of the road.
So stay humble. Stay hungry. That will drive you forward to achieving what you want to achieve.