Pride holds you back. It is tough to think of one good thing that pride/ego/cockiness bring you. It is a very short term entity. You can only feel pride right now, but if you fore-go that sense of entitlement or pride, you can do much more, and then reap the rewards in the future. Successful people will “sell out”, which actually means succeed by using their skills. Most of the benefits of maintaining a heightened sense of “pride” are in your own mind, and don’t show up as providing you results.
Negate Inflated Self-Perceptions
It is often said that one’s ego needs to be controlled, if they are to grow into more competent conditions. A powerful way to clear out your ego is to perform an action that your ego would normally hold you back from. If you are maintaining a haughty social demeanor that is not sustainable in the long run, do something that completely cancels that perception. You could take a social risk that negates any thoughts of superciliousness that you have, and leaves others knowing that you are more concerned with humility than a perceived position of entitlement.
Earned Pride vs. Unfounded Pride
There is the argument that pride does assist in moving someone forward, but I am speaking about unfounded pride that is there as a safety cushion. It provides no real cushion at all, as people are readily able to see that you are using it as part of your attitude so that you have a defensive buffer to protect from social damage. People are more astute than we tend to expect.
Two Scenarios:
A person was raised in a prosperous city. During his days, he has the feeling that he is one of the select few that is in an upper-end category of ability. Therefore, when provided with opportunities that another would be glad to have, he denies them in search of an imagined larger opportunity. Someone else takes the opportunities and succeeds where he was not able to.
Another example would be of a person not raised in a prosperous city, but who has developed a cushion of pride that he shows when he talks to others. Although this communication manner puts other people off, and doesn’t benefit him in day-to-day activities, he has gotten accustomed to telling himself that problems that come up are due to others, and not his own sense of superiority. In relation to this, when someone puts blame on others for a problem, they are giving up part of their power/motivation to correct what is always a rectifiable issue.
Bring True Pride To The Table
Both of these individuals would have pride coming from different foundations, but both would benefit by making an action to show themselves that they are not as esteemed as they might assume to be. The sooner false pride is quashed, the sooner actual bits of pride can be the motivating force that you can use. Just like you don’t want to be dishonest to yourself when setting a period of time to work on a task, you want to have your actions based on a foundation of motivation that is actually there, and not being pseudo-generated minute-by-minute. Having your thoughts in line with where your pride can safely come from leaves you a more competent individual.
Vocabulary Used In This Article
supercilious – Having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy
“The union said that these programmes and their catchphrases led to general insubordination and supercilious retorts…”
quashed – Put down by force or intimidation; declared invalid
“Rumours that Henley firm Stuart Turner was the subject of a buy-out have been quashed.