Humilty
In a culture that values self-promotion, humility is sometimes disregarded but is essential to both individual and interpersonal development. It is the unspoken acceptance of our shortcomings combined with appreciation to the traits of others. It's about being humble, not arrogant, and receptive to new information, not defensive. Being humble is about wisely evaluating one's place in the world, not about demeaning oneself. It enables us to create genuine connections, encourage empathy, and take a growth mindset to problems. Being humble makes us more open to feedback more eager to work with others, and more likely to enjoy other people's successes.
Here's some food for thought 💭 🤔 :
1. How does humility differ from low self-esteem? Can you share an example of a situation where you demonstrated humility?
2. In a world that often rewards self-promotion, how can we cultivate humility in ourselves and others?
@Angelanj
In a world that often rewards self-promotion, how can we cultivate humility in ourselves and others?
- Ditch the advertisement of self. Learn to accept others as they are, and allow others to accept you as you are. Expose yourself a bit, don't put too much makeup on your faults. It's a bit of a learning curve, but I found more genuine connections this way. Both professionally, and personally.
Humility is quiet confidence in one’s abilities while low self-esteem is a disbelief in one’s abilities. A situation I can think of is when a coworker explained to me the basics of a computer program that I am fluent in. My coworker was excited to have learned the program and simply wanted to share this information as it came up for them. Rather than pretending to not know the program or to talk poorly about my use of it, I allowed my coworker that space to discuss their learning and did not go out of my way on the other hand either to mention I already knew the presented information.
In my opinion, we have to actively work towards dismantling the need we each individually have to self-promote or to seek self-promotion in others rather than recognizing others. To cultivate humility we need to move forward with humility in mind.
@Angelanj
To cultivate more humility, I think we need to alter prioritization in our culture to emphasize learning from others as teachers. Instead of rewarding self-promotion, reward those who learn from others—because (as everyone has different strengths) everyone can be your teacher at least for something. Learning to learn from others instead of competing with others can naturally help to promote humility, I think.
@AngelanjIn contrast to poor self-esteem, which results from a negative self-image, humility is rooted in self-awareness and acceptance. Recognizing one's skills and shortcomings without lowering one's value is a sign of humility. I once accepted blame for a collective project's error even though I knew it wasn't solely my fault. This freed us from blaming and let's concentrate on solutions. We can exercise active listening, promote introspection on personal development, and acknowledge the accomplishments of others in order to foster humility. Even in a world where self-promotion is the norm, humility may flourish by creating an atmosphere that prioritizes education and teamwork over recognition for oneself.