Humility: It Is About Truly knowing One’s Limitations

“Humility is the most difficult of all virtues to achieve; nothing dies harder than the desire to think well of self.”—T. S. Eliot

In his book, ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People,’ Stephen Covey refers to humility as the mother of all virtues and refers to courage as their father. However, in this article, our focus is on the tranquil mother of morality: the virtue of humility.

Covey’s argument for placing such a soft-seeming quality at the highest spot of nobility is based on the fact that we are a created being. It is plainly sensible that a created entity should embrace humility. All might and wisdom emanates from our Maker. Almighty God is the only One who has ultimate control over everybody and everything. 

So, no matter how powerful a human being is, he must guard himself against the temptation of arrogance and oppression for one simple reason: we are all mortals, we shall die one day and lose our sovereignty, whether we like it or not.

It is with this knowledge that even the mightiest people in the world should be careful of their thoughts and actions, especially in a tall moment of rage or fame.

To lack humility is become proud. To become proud is to be arrogant. And arrogance is always a precursor to downfall. So to conquer our arrogant tendencies and develop a lasting sense of humility, let’s take to heart what the British theologian, C. S. Lewis has to say:

“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”

Since no human is omnipotent, it is therefore not our rightful place to be proud. Arrogance doesn’t really befit mortals. Only God is Omnipotent and Omniscient.

Moreover, an arrogant person, no matter how powerful is always vulnerable. 

Why? 

This is because his arrogant pride can blind him to a lethal weakness.

For example: in the sea world of reptiles, a crocodile is so strong that it can squash the strongest human skull by the mere power of its teeth.

However, that singular power has a corresponding weakness: the crocodile will lose that edge if we can manage to keep its mouth close, even with the tips of our hands.

If it the crocodile gets hooked and is unable to open its mouth and move its sharp tail, the reptile is practically powerless.

Therefore, if the crocodile suddenly feels invincible, then boldly craws into the city of humans because of the power of its jaws, it may actually land itself in the cage or worse, loses its life. 

But if the crocodile remembers its limitations and restrains itself from undue pride, the reptile will easily retain its freedom, its power and its life. 

The same is true for us, humans; arrogance is the beginning of our ruin. 

In the end, hubris is fatality while humility is honour.

This is why an American diplomat, John J. McCloy concludes that:

“Humility leads to strength and not to weakness. It is the highest form of self-respect to admit mistakes and to make amends for them.”

To have humility doesn’t mean we don’t have powers, but it means we are modest about them. It means we know that we are not completely independent. 

It means we know that only Our Creator is the All-Powerful One. Only God is absolutely perfect and without any blemish, without any equal. So we curb ourselves from all forms of excess and tyranny.

Meanwhile, our strength can be a source of grave weakness. Generally, a weakness is almost always an offshoot of a source of strength. 

For example:

Generally, the most passionate person among us will also have the greatest potential capacity for fury. 

Generally, the most discerning person among us will also have the greatest potential capacity for distrust. 

Generally, the most powerful person in the land will also have the greatest potential capacity for arrogance. 

For all of us, the way out of these different levels of potential flaws is the cultivation of humility. In agreement to this, a morality thinker, Donald Curtis said:

“Humility is not weakness; it is the epitome of strength.”

And Curtis concluded that:

“Humility moves a person away from human, personal weakness and limitation into divine expression, strength, and expansion.”

The cultivation of humility is the beginning of serenity: the door to the temple of peace.

Finally, by remembering our limitations and making wiser choices as a result, we shall realize rather than being a source of weakness as some may people assume, genuine humility is indeed, a special form of super-power.

Lead Yourself First

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”_ John Quincy Adams

If we dream of taking the next generation to greater heights, we need to become good role models first. And that means we have to become the change we wish to see in the world. 

In shorter words: we need to lead ourselves right.

These days, leadership is less about our status; it is more about our choices. It is less about our power; it is more about our motives; it is less about our position but more about the quality of our actions. 

Leadership in modern time has to do with influence not authority. Therefore, servant leaders quietly ask themselves the following questions on a regular basis:

Are we doing our best to realize our potential so we can serve as a good reference point to the people? 

Are we driven solely for our personal needs or do we have genuine concerns for need of others around us?  

Does the overall good of our community have a high place in our heart?

We must answer those questions—affirmatively—with regards to how we lead our lives each day, if we want to be an agent of positive change.

In this connection, below are four great qualities of self-sovereignty we can all benefit from.

Vision

The first requirement for good leadership is to know where one is heading. Without vision, we can get nowhere.

To drive this point home, Michael Gerber, the author of the popular business book, ‘E-Myth Revisted, asks: "With no clear picture of how you wish your life to be, how on earth are you going to live it?

Whether we are leading ourselves or we are leading a group of people, to succeed in life, we need to have a clear vision of the kind of future we want to make happen. 

Commenting on the importance of vision, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple said:

“If you are working on something exciting that you really care about, you don't have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.”

This is why great leaders are human dynamos; they are fueled by the clarity of their vision.

Commitment 

Commitment is about giving one’s heart completely to a purpose, a cause or an ideal. Truly committed leaders are all about getting the job done; they give and accept no excuses. 

Lack of commitment gives rise to sidestepping or withdrawal when the going gets tough. To deliver in any capacity, commitment is one thing we can’t afford to not to have. 

Wes Fesler, the late Harvard basketball coach, explained this powerful quality tersely when he said: “Commitment hangs on when all else has fallen.”

Consistency

Leaders show up every time. They show up, no matter what, especially when it is easier not to. Leaders make the right choices consistently. 

They show up in moments of ease and inconvenience because they understand that great vision cannot be realized without consistency of performance.

And Jim Tressel, the President of Youngstown State University, Ohio put it this way:

 “The hallmark of excellence, the test of greatness, is consistency.”

True leaders don’t respond very high today and very low tomorrow. They maintain a balance of flow. And, since their performance is steady and reliable, anyone can count on them to move humanity forward.

Follow-through

Eventually, great leaders win. They find a way to convert their vision into reality. No matter the sacrifices required, real leaders always manage to find a way to finish the job they started.

In essence, great leaders know that great things of life require great sacrifices and they are always willing to pay their due in advance. They know that in the pursuit of purpose, half measures won’t do.

So they decide to go all the way because they understand that the richest reward of success comes from seeing things through. 

Now, the main thing on the science of leadership lies in the better outcome it can create either for us as individuals or for us as a nation. This is why Warren Bennis, the author of ‘Visionary Leadership’ plainly concluded that: “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”

To build that precious capacity, we need not only to talk the talk but more importantly, we need to walk the talk, everyday of our lives.

The Advantage of Simplicity

 “The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of letters, is: simplicity.”—Walt Whitman

There is power in simplicity. 

However, most of us do not fully realize this fact. That’s why we find it easier to make things complicated than to make things simple. Steve Jobs, the cofounder of Apple, agreed. 

Jobs often said that simple can be harder than complex; you need to think really hard to make things simple but once you get there however, you can move mountains.

On this topic, Leo Babauta, the author of many books on peak performance and the founder of Zen Habits, says: 

“I believe in simplicity. If you simplify things, it will seem like you’ve found a miraculous shortcut.”

And he goes further to suggest a process we can adopt with regards to learning, doing and becoming better without unnecessary complexities and complications. 

Below are simple but effective steps to improvement and mastery: 

1}  We should lower the bar of mastery, so we only need to be better than the general populace. 

2}  We should narrow the area of expertise, so instead of seeking to know everything about a thing, we just learn enough to be well-equipped only at the essential areas.

3}  We should reduce our method of doing anything to its bare bones, so instead of using 30 steps to accomplish a goal, we use the vital 3.

In support of this strategy, the scientific thinker, Isaac Newton said: “Truth is ever to be found in the simplicity and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.”

Now let me narrate a life example of this simplification miracle…

The story is about someone who did something that many people can’t do because of lack of time to train and prepare for months. 

Scott Dinsmore, the American personal freedom coach, became an inspiration to many by following a simple process to shorten his journey towards a big goal.

The goal: He wanted to run an ultra-marathon. {Generally, this requires up to six months of rigorous preparation and training.}

And Scott didn’t have six months to train. 

So he read the book, ‘Born to Run’ to gain inspiration and studied another book to learn about running style. As a result of these short but focused steps, he gained enough skills to accomplish his goal. 

He went out and ran an ultra-marathon after only doing three training runs just two weeks prior. Wow! 

And, 15 miles was the longest he’d ever run in his training. Amazing!

As you can see, the power of simplicity enabled Dinsmore to achieve a milestone. This clearly confirms the words of Leornardo da Vinci who said: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

If you still wonder whether you can pull off such a feat, Scott Dinsmore has a piece of advice for you. He says: “If you’re going to shortcut expertise, at least enough to accomplish a goal, you absolutely must find the few who have done it. Model them, and don’t look back.”

Finally, we should listen to the experts and realize that true power lies not in complexity but in simplification. Having realized its efficacy, Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon, the Nigerian-American Olympic gold-winning medalist in basketball, said one of his favourite virtues is: simplicity.

Indeed, simplicity is not only the art of arts but also the heart of arts.

How the Smartest People Work

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”—Stephen Covey

Smart work is not about getting more things done, it's about getting the right things done.  It is not about being less industrious either. It is about making the best productive choices with regards to the use of our limited resources.  

Working smart is the way to increasing the impact of output from input. It involves making a premium profit from every investment of our energy. It is the path to making the most of precious resource of time.

If we want to operate at the highest level of contribution, we need to do more than just work hard, we need to apply certain skills to how we live and work. 

And that starts with living by right priorities as the legendary management coach, Stephen Covey advised leaders of companies and countries for a greater portion of his life. Covey taught the principle of always “putting the first things first.”

So, the solution to the issue of mediocrity that is widespread today is not to work harder and stay longer. Many active people are already working long hours without a corresponding rise in their records of achievements. 

Roger Delano, the author of ‘The Way Out Book’ highlighted this point when he stated: “One must, however, not just work hard. One must work smart. The efficient person gets the job done right; the effective person gets the right job done.”

While we may choose to think that exceptionally successful people are more naturally gifted than we are. The truth of the matter is necessarily not as many of us assume.

In reality, one key factor that is common to all truly great achievers is this: super-achievers are ‘knowledge workers’ in the true sense of the phrase. They don’t just work hard, they make the smartest possible decisions on the investment of their time and energy, every single day. 

This essential skill is conveyed in the words of the Persian poet, Rumi (RA) who asserted: “The art of knowing is knowing what to ignore.” Knowing what to ignore comes from knowing that things don’t matter equally. One thing may be way more valuable than a dozen of others combined.  Highly effective people thoroughly comprehend this fact.

That simple point is the cornerstone of all extraordinary achievements in religion, business and in life. It entails focusing on what is most important, creating a system to tackle other critical goals and delegating or delaying everything else.

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon Inc. contributes to this by saying that “one of the most important decisions you get to make in life.” is deciding on what you are going to do with your time and energy. This is all we need to understand to multiply any results in our lives.

Highly productive thinkers focus on just a few priorities and strategize to do them right. Focus is the defining element of ‘deep work.’ Deep work is the way to working smart. This is the secret of all super-successful people. They apply it in the areas that matter the most.

By now, I hope I have been able to convince you that getting better results in our business is less about hard work but more about smart work. We must be very selective in what we choose to do with our time and energy as the Eastern scholar, Jalaludeen Rumi (RA) completely agreed with the Western scholar, William James who contended that: 

“The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.” As you can see, truth is indeed, incontrovertible. It is the same in the East and the West, in the North and the South: it is universal.

Now let’s put the theory into practice….

2 Simple Tips on How We Can Start Producing Highly

In his book, ‘Get Smart!’ the efficiency expert, Brian Tracy reveals some strategies of the best performers in a variety of professional fields. He introduces us to many ways we can do better with regards to how we live and work. Out of the book, I have extracted just two powerful ideas that we can use right away.

They are:

{1} Be clear: Have a clear sense of purpose on what you want and how it can generate superior value for you and the society.

{2} Be focused: Whatever you decide to do, concentrate on doing it with all the attention you can garner. Fiercely avoid interruptions when you’re doing your decisive tasks.

In a nutshell, if we desire maximum impact in any areas of our lives, we must make time to gain clarity on the direction we want to take and after that, we need to guard our time and attention from distractions, by all means.

Finally, if we decide to truly follow the best of what this article contains, we will literally astound ourselves because we can now produce as much as the most effective person alive.