I’m great at being humble.

Every time I think I’ve cracked something my internal alarm goes off. I check myself and realise that I haven’t cracked it; that in all likelihood I never will. I recalibrate, saying to myself ‘okay, let’s get back to basics’. Swiftly I re-focus on task, not on the day-dreaming of what might be but on the here and now, on the mundane, on the step by step that will take me closer to the goal I’m after.

Really?

Nope.

I wish that was the case but it isn’t. However grounded I think I am, or aspire to be I sometimes get carried away. I dream of goals achieved and how I’ll feel, how others will feel when we surpass them. Wow – imagine if we won that work and we helped that organisation. We’d be making a genuine difference, our reputation would be enhanced, we’d probably generate even more referrals, surpass our targets, I’d get to spend more time in exciting environments, get the chance to study to reflect, to create new ideas and services with colleagues, and then…

Woah there tiger! Something is not quite right here. Getting ahead of yourself per chance?

Sometimes it is enough to have a quick chat with yourself. Sometimes it requires a chat with a colleague or coach and sometimes I reach for a book. Ryan Holliday’s ‘Ego is the Enemy’ is one I keep to hand. I leaf through searching for a quote or text that resonates.

I did it this weekend… And here is what I found.

In his chapter ‘Talk, Talk, Talk’ he opines that “talk depletes us, talking and doing fight for the same resources”. I’d not been talking out loud but the chatter in my head was full-throated… And resources? Well I was definitely investing time; energy too.

He goes on to say that “whilst goal visualisation is important after a certain point our mind begins to confuse it with actual progress”. That’s where I’d been. Far too far along the path, floating past all the small steps that may get us there.

I’m back on more solid ground again. At least for a while.

How do you keep yourself humble?

‍

‍

*Holliday, R., (2016). Ego is the Enemy. Penguin.

‍