Humility

“Be like Bamboo. The higher you grow, the deeper you bow.”

Chinese proverb

As a martial arts lover, I often look up to Samurai culture, where the mind and body are developed in equal measure and where humility is fundamental to their code of honour.  We undeniably live in rather narcissistic and entitled times. The more these behaviours go unchecked and are encouraged, the more they normalise behavioural patterns that are pretty unattractive and will hold your personal development back. Humility keeps us grounded.

Today’s Challenges

1. Be on the lookout for humble behaviours from others and compliment them when you see them. We all need a bit of encouragement and noticing positive traits in others is a kind and welcome act.

2. Be careful not just to ACT humble. Servility and false modesty is a prevalent thing to see nowadays. If I post a pic of my shiny new Range Rover on Instagram telling thousands of strangers how #humbled and #grateful I am – is that really acting humbly? No, it isn’t, and I won’t be fooling anyone. Be careful of the ‘humblebrag” and think about how you communicate to the world. The way to develop humility is actually to be humble!

3. Ask the big questions. Before going to bed at night tonight, acquaint yourself with some of the BIG questions. I’m a total fanboy of astronomy and quantum physics myself. Not because I want to feel small and insignificant – these are just mere side benefits! We can’t help but feel humbled about our own lives and the total meaningless of our ‘careers’ and other so-called failures and successes when we look up and think about life, the universe, time and all the things we don’t know yet. Just don’t go so far down the rabbit hole that you become solipsistic or nihilistic.. as that never helps anyone! I also recommend you read a bit of Albert Camus.. he’s an Algerian philosopher and is the poster boy for a school of thought that resonates with me personally – ‘Absurdism’. Camus defines the absurd as the tension created by humanity’s need for meaning and the universe’s refusal to provide any.

4. Do things that are out of your grasp. Back on day one, I asked you some personal questions. I wanted you to realise that you’re not as fit or happy as you could be. It comes from a good place; honest reflection forges humility. Living the athletic life, learning new skills, and doing those final few reps always remind you that you are not perfect. So train hard and try new things, embrace being a beginner at things and please don’t be a perfectionist!  High levels of self–esteem are not built upon being great at stuff. High self-esteem is more of a litmus test of how good your mindset is when you fail. “Failure” to achieve something when we’ve tried really hard is generally a good thing as it’s the best way we can learn and grow.

A little birdy once told me that the universe keeps giving us lessons until we have learned what we need to learn. I believe that humility is vital to really hear these lessons. What do you think?