Lurking at every corner, it sneaks up everywhere. Conversation after conversation, we find ourselves face to face with it. Often, we can be completely and incredibly oblivious to it, but it’s there longing for more. When it gets more, it becomes hungry for even more. The more you obtain, the more blinded you become to how much of it you actually possess. We throw it out in conversation in order to validate ourselves and “prove” to ourselves and others that we are accomplishing much and are in fact, more successful than the next guy.

Sounds kind of evil, doesn’t it? Can you guess what I’m talking about? Come on, I know we all face it – only some more than others. It’s a five letter word and the center of the word is “I,” which really isn’t that surprising.

–

–

–

Have you guessed yet?

–

–

–

P-R-I-D-E

Accompanying that five letter word are ego and selfishness. Yuck. Three very unattractive qualities that I’d rather not posses in any capacity, but it’s a constant struggle to overcome this trio of ugliness.

For the last several years I’ve been incredibly drawn to personal development and that interest has made clear many of the traits (bad and good) that I posses. It’s an endless battle, this molding and shaping of myself and my character, but it is so worth it. Striving for better and striving to BECOME better is the most important goal I’ve ever set for myself, but that still doesn’t make it easy. In fact, now that I have made it a goal to become a better person day in and day out, I have to face the fact that I often fail at this. As a matter of fact, one never even realizes how prideful and selfish he or she truly is until they make it a point to steer him or herself in the opposite direction. It is in dying to ourselves that we become aware of our pride. It is in dying to ourselves that we are then able to serve others and to serve God.

So often we are quick to say, “I  accomplished this,” or “I  made the sale,” or “I  beat the rival,” but did we really accomplish it entirely on our own? In work environments especially, it is more often than not a team effort in some way, shape or form. Did someone else give you the lead or connect you with the right person or provide you with the office supplies you work with or get you a coffee while you were working late hours so you could stay awake? I venture to guess that the answer is yes. We rely on other people all the time for even the simplest tasks, but our visual of that helping hand becomes foggy because we feel that we have played the most important part and so we say, “Look what I  have done. Be proud of me.”

Pride is a dangerous, ugly thing. If you are the center of your world, you may want to take a long, hard look at your life and honestly reflect on your relationship with pride. Perhaps you will find that you have too much pride to swallow and will continue living your self-fulfilling life telling everyone how awesome you are. Everyone just loves that guy, right? Sense the sarcasm…

On the other hand, you might recognize that you need to squash your ego. If that is the case, just start with one step. Begin to replace “I” with “we” when you know that someone else had a hand in the accomplishment.

Don’t get me wrong, we all do have individual accomplishments and we all should have a sense of pride for the things we have achieved; however, there is difference between the humble achiever and the narcissistic achiever. Which one are you?

PS – Just wanted to leave you with one of my favorite quotes, which also happens to be a great reminder:

“Mistakes are almost always and inevitably one’s own responsibility, but one’s successes, triumphs and worthwhile achievements are rarely accomplished without the help of others.”
~Matthew Kelly~