THE IMPORTANCE OF HUMILITY

 
            "If thou desire the love of God and man, be humble; for
             the proud heart, as it loves none but itself, so it is believed
             for none but by itself; the voice of humility is God's music,
             and the silence of humility is God's rhetoric. Humility enforces
              where neither virtue nor strength can prevail nor reason."

              "He who sacrifices a whole offering shall be rewarded for a
              whole offering; he who offers a burnt-offering shall have the
               reward of a burnt-offering; but he who offers humility to God
                and man shall be rewarded with a reward as if he had offered
                 all the sacrifices in the world."

Misfortune humiliates some people, while others learn humility. When trouble happens, you can react either way. You might believe that life has abused you, made you a victim and that you have been humiliated. Or you might understand — from the same experience — that you have learned something. Being prepared to set aside old notions and be taught by life is learning humility. The choice you make depends on your attitude.

Some people fail forward. Others fail and quickly spiral downward. These two types of people are very different, but how?

 “The difference is on the inside. It’s the spirit of the individual. Those who profit from adversity possess a spirit of humility and are therefore inclined to make the necessary changes needed to learn from their mistakes, failures, and losses. They stand in stark contrast to prideful people who are unwilling to allow adversity to be their teacher and as a result fail to learn.”1

 But failure to learn isn’t the only way pride impacts a leader. Prideful people blame others, deny the obvious truth, and are closed-minded, rigid, insecure, and isolated from others. All of these can be detrimental to a leader, especially one who is interested in growing.

 However, if leaders can move past arrogance and work toward humility, they can become the very best. Great talent is good, but great talent with a spirit of learning is better. As leaders, we need more than just talent to be successful. In fact, humble leaders must not boast in their talent, but instead, must be confident in the ways they can build others and build organizations regardless of failure.

Romans 11:18 (International Standard translation)
"Do not boast about being better than the other branches. If you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you"

In other words, no matter what you do, no matter how successful you are, no matter how lucky you are, never boast about being better than others. Because in the end, you are really just a branch. Whatever you do is just part of that branch, connected to other branches and a tree that is way larger than you.
 
Humility is an asset for self-improvement. By remaining humble, you are receptive to opportunities to improve. If I suggest a way you might triple your business, you have to accept the possibility that your current way of doing things is costing you 2/3′s of your potential revenue. Only with humility can you allow this incredible advice to sink in.

Humility is an underrated virtue. For every ten articles I see written about how to improve self-confidence, I only see one that suggests humility might be important at all.

 Beyond personal success, humility is also a virtue for inner well-being. Frustrations and losses don’t have the same impact if you don’t get your ego involved. If you combine humility with motivation, you have the ability to drive towards successes without letting the failures knock you out of balance.