Success is a desired achievement. Humility is a great virtue, contrary to what people think of it. But are these two compatible? There is always that temptation to be proud when one finally attains that enviable height of preferment. Even one from humble beginnings could be tempted to forget their roots, cast out every element of humility and become otherwise (humility is not necessarily associated with humble beginnings though). This phenomenon does not take away the truth that true success cannot expunge humility from its prided virtues. Humility is a character issue. Both success and humility share quite similar but different path to attain.
Humility is the ability to recognize that you are human. It’s the ability to be humble when you have opportunity and right to be proud. It is common place that pride is mostly associated with wealth, outstanding talents and the likes. If you noticed, I didn’t use the term success when referring to pride. Why? You may ask. It brings us back to the “all important topic”; WHAT IS SUCCESS? I wrote exclusively about success, if you read it, it will help clear out the misconception between success and riches. Success is definitely not riches however, it‘s an aspect of it that cannot be ignored. Happiness is an important part of success as success means different things to different people at different points in their life.
Humility comes from a great deal of self understanding and self worth. Humility is a wonderful personal virtue that many relegate to the background. These days I seem to talk a lot about the easy things, pride is one of them. It’s a no brainier to be proud once you attain a level of preferment. The easy stuff doesn’t usually stand you out. Beware of effortless attainments, for as much as I know, all worthy accomplishment are not without there fair share of difficulty and uneasiness at their initial stages. If your journey is without effort or opposition, it could be you are going down the hill. Here is something to consider about humility.
1. Humility brings you to terms with who you truly are. Pride on the other hand does the very opposite, it masks you from your true self and sets you aside not just from others but from yourself and you true values; it makes you build confidence around fetish hopes rather than gain it from internalized values. Every need has an ego to feed – Bob Marley. But I say, “Every cruelty or unpleasant character has a weakness it shields”.
2. Humility opens you up to opportunities around you. This is a neglected aspect; I believe that there is opportunity where you are. Pride lifts the head so high that it doesn’t allow one to see the possibilities and danger below.
3. It is easier to gain trust and association, with humility. A proud man is so concerned about only himself; he appreciates his qualities so much he barely has time for the greater good he can do to humanity.
One guaranty about pride is that it will surely lift you up. Who doesn’t want to be lifted up? Everyone wants to, but before you take the lift pride offers consider clause. The only reason why pride lifts you up is to let you down. “A man’s pride shall bring him low….”Prv 29:23
Every success has a level of pride attached to it. But any person of character learns to be humble and human irrespective of achievement. One pivotal key to overcoming pride is service. Service is a key calling in nature. Inasmuch we are born to win we are called to serve. Unfortunately pride can’t serve, should I say it can’t serve effectively. The moment you stop serving, you start losing relevance. The saddest thing that can happen to anyone is to know how irrelevant one has become to loved ones, the society and humanity. Humility creates opportunity for service. Conquer pride with service. The richest companies and people in the world are the ones that provide you service on a regular, consistent and satisfactory basis. There is no reason to be proud when you know you are at service.
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