Your humility is a key part of your growth — here’s why
“ If you’re ever going to be “great” at anything, you need to become a serious, committed student of it.” — Anthony Moore
Whether working on a personal project or climbing the latter in the corporate world, there is one thing that remains constant when it comes to personal growth and sucess.
In a very compelling note, Anthony more talks about becoming a student of your craft and the importance of humility.
After all, no one builds an empire on their own. And history has showed us that the greatest creations are the result of years of study and collaboration.
According to Miriam-Webster’s dictionary, to be humble is to not be proud or haughty, nor arrogant or assertive.
Equally, one who is humble can also be considered to be one with low ranking or hierarchy.
It is in this low ranking where we must find the riches in learning on the road to becoming highly skilled virtuosos of our fields.
To achieve great success, we must humble ourselves and become serious students of our craft
Groundbreaking innovators like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk would have not reached their respective levels of success thinking they knew it all.
In fact, these two masters in innovation would probably be the firsts to tell us about the importance of humbling ourselves and studying our crafts through self-learning or even mentorship.
You don’t know it all — be coachable
I grew up playing soccer at a very high level of competitiveness. One of the topics that always seemed to be in the mouths of our trainers was how coachable any given player was or was not.
How coachable you were would prove to be a determining factor in your success within the team and the club.
Talented young athletes are always taught some of the most valuable lessons that can be carried over in to various contexts in life.
The classic “There is no ‘I’ in Team” followed by the willingness to yield to those with more knowledge than yourself are two mentalities that inevitably propel you to excellence.
When you make the mental shift that allows you to be easily coached, you are making room for exponential growth in your craft and your career.
To improve, we must be willing to be taught. To be taught we must be able to attract the minds of teachers through humble curiosity
At times, we are presented with opportunities through self-drive and tenacity.
Other times, great opportunities come along because we have allowed ourselves to be guided down the correct paths by someone more experienced than ourselves.
On many occasions, individuals who are eager and hungry for success find themselves searching for ways to improve. However, they go about it in all the wrong ways.
When interacting with others in the same field as us, we should steer clear of self-praise or other forms of aggrandizement that can be a turn off to those who would, otherwise, share great deals of knowledge with us.
Present yourself as a student who is passionate and eager. Expose your vulnerabilities without shame and open yourself up to guidance and constructive criticism, and you will see an exponential increase in knowledge and experience in less time than if you would have relied only on what you know.
The difference between the professionals and the dreamers is that the professionals actually become students of their craft. — Anthony Moore
In order to reach the highest levels of success in our personal endeavors, we must be willing to deliberately put ourselves in the position of the student at all times.
We must read about our craft, investigate it and talk with and listen to those who have already been walking the same path for longer than we have.
The most skilled experts in ANY field at one point had to start from scratch. In fact, it’s likely that they weren’t very good at the beginning.
Over time, through study, practice and guidance from others, that individual was molded into the skilled professional that they are today.
When we expose ourselves as students, recognizing any lack of knowledge we may have, we are positioning ourselves on the path of growth.
Open yourself up to failure. Fall down and allow someone to help you up and show you the way.
Your perseverance and your studies, matched with someone else’s guidance, could be all you need — the rest will fall into place on its own.
Before you go…
If you liked this post, clap it up and share it with someone who you think might find it useful. For similar reads, check out articles written by Benjamin P. Hardy, Thomas Oppong and Jeff Goins for great insight on personal growth and acheivements :)
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