Hello and welcome, here in this article I would like to talk about a subject that can damage our personal growth and development.
That subject or issue is that of trying to "prove yourself" rather than to "improve yourself."
Over time it becomes clear that if we try to outperform or outdo those around us we damage relationships and often close ourselves off to the very insights we are trying to prove.
"By dimming someone elses light it will not make yours shine any brighter."
"If you are the smartest person in the room you are in the wrong room," as the saying goes.
When we surround ourselves with individuals who do possess higher intellect than ourselves we have the chance of numerous
benefits.
When in the presence of particular people we are confirming that we are fine with not knowing or understanding the specific topic at hand.
Allowing ourselves to be okay with not knowing entices other people to share their knowledge, insights and understanding with us to help us understand what we are seeking to learn.
Similarly, people who strive to improve will always find themselves reaching the peak of their domain. Allow their company to encourage, inspire, motivate and drive us to achieve better in our area of interest.
The practice of humbleness can be one of the hardest things to do. The ego can be a tough giant to slay.
When we become comfortable in our skin and realize we are imperfect and flawed this opens us up to accept and invite those around us who are more intelligent, wiser and knowledgeable than ourselves.
We become less intimidated by them and we dont feel overpowered because we know that there is a bunch of wealth to be learned which is important to our progression.
The problem starts when our ego kicks in and we make it known that we are more knowledgeable than others. This my friends is a one-way ticket to a personal landslide.
The trouble with a mindset like this is that we will not take the time to consider other people's perspectives or ideas. This indicates that we are not interested in learning but only sharing what we have to say.
A dangerous game to play.
Another point is that those who see themselves as more intelligent, knowledgeable or wise than others will have challenges when sharing the workload, why? because they will believe that no one is capable of doing what needs to be done as sufficiently as they can.
Dont get me wrong it is perfectly natural to want to do more than what is needed to make up for our deficiencies but not being mature enough to learn from other people's insights will surely catch up with us in the long run.
When faced with such challenges consider the two options below.
OPTION ONE
Continue to express ourselves in a way that makes us appear wise, intelligent and knowledgeable and only listen to other people's insights to validate our perspective.
Usually, people who operate in this way deep down know that they are not as wise as they make out and feel as though they dont have what it takes to outperform or outdo the people around them.
OPTION TWO.
Take the chance to link with other individuals who are wise, intelligent, knowledgeable, savvy and clever. Use that time to develop your learning by asking questions and taking in insights.
Also, use that time to donate your genuine insights and information.
As you can see the two options will give you very different results.
If we choose to select option one we will quickly uncover that other individuals will surely be happy to correct us embarrassingly, while this is not nice neither is trying to look down on people by assuming they are less intelligent than you.
Now if we go with option number two what we will find is that the individual or group will accept us and will have no problem aiding us with their expertise, insights and wisdom that we are seeking. This will also make us feel at home.
Modesty guides us to places of stability and resilience creating us to have more respect not only for ourselves but for others around us.
No one likes a know it all. Coming across as if we are a walking book of knowledge and wisdom leads to disinterest from others. To be interesting you have to be interested.
When we strive to always improve humbly we will attract people who are seeking the same journey as us.
The question is, how do you think people view you when in a group discussing certain topics?
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