Guide on How to Overcome Pride
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Written by: Jonette Dyer
Do you consider yourself a prideful or humble person? For many people, learning how to overcome pride is an essential part of growing and succeeding in life. Here is a closer look at pride, humility, and how you can have the right balance between the two.
What is Pride in Comparison to Humility?
The words “pride” and “humility” are often seen as being in contrast to each other. Pride is often a feeling of deep satisfaction in one’s own achievements or qualities, while humility is defined as having a modest view of your own importance.
In many teachings, pride is considered a vice, while humility is a virtue, yet there are times when pride is healthy and natural. If you achieve something challenging, you may feel pride in that achievement and the work you put in to reach it. Pride becomes a vice when you become so full of it that you cannot see other people and appreciate their successes.
Where Does Pride Come From?
The source of pride is not what you might think it is. Psychology Today indicates it actually comes from fear of being embarrassed or ashamed. You take pride in yourself rather than learning to laugh at yourself and make mistakes with grace.
How Pride Can Be a Detriment to Personal Success
Though some pride is natural and healthy, too much of it is dangerous. Being full of pride can create mental blocks that prevent you from growing. Having too much pride also prevents you from earning the admiration of others.
Not only that but being a prideful person can make you uncaring and tremendously selfish. This prevents you from having a positive mindset and being a positive influence on others. You also stop listening to the feedback others have for you, and that prevents you from growing and achieving your personal level of success.
Ways to Overcome Pride
If you feel that pride is becoming a problem in your life, there are ways to overcome it. Acknowledging the problem is a good first step, but here are some additional steps you can take to overcome pride and learn to walk in humility.
1. Reflect on Personal Behavior
First, learn how to reflect on your personal behavior. Emotional intelligence is essential to success, and the first step on emotional intelligence is self-awareness. Become introspective, not to the point that you beat yourself up over becoming prideful, but simply to the point where you start acknowledging where your thinking may have gone wrong.
A good way to reflect on your personal behavior is by asking questions. Some questions that can help you reflect include:
- How often do I talk about myself?
- How often do I refuse help from others?
- Do I act as though I am better than others?
If you’re finding it difficult to be honest with yourself, ask someone you trust to answer these questions. You can also work with a mental health coach to do some self-reflection.
2. Practice Humility
Learn to think more humbly about yourself and your limitations. Remember, you have shortcomings as well as strengths, as do the people around you. Learn to see and acknowledge the strengths of others while also being aware of your own limitations, and you will start thinking with more humility.
In addition, you can practice humility by learning from others and adapting to their needs. Being a good listener will also teach you how to be humble.
3. Seek Feedback & Learn from Criticism
Ask others for feedback about your work and your daily life. If someone has some constructive criticism to share, fight the urge to bristle to it. Learn from that criticism. Even if you don’t choose to make the change that is suggested, you can perform some self-reflection to see if it would help you be better.
When you can follow the guidance and feedback of another, you automatically become more humble. Pride pushes you to try to be in charge. Humility allows you to step back and learn from others.
4. Serve Others
When you are full of pride, you are concerned with doing things for yourself rather than others. Force yourself to find ways to serve others. You’ll feel a sense of satisfaction when you do, and eventually, it will become a habit. When you stretch yourself to help with a problem someone else has, you become more selfless, and you fight your natural tendencies of pride.
5. Acknowledge Wrongdoing and Make Amends
You will make mistakes. No matter how good you are at doing life, you will do something wrong from time to time. When that happens, acknowledge your mistake. If your wrongdoing hurts someone else, make amends for the problems you created.
Not only does this make you humble, but it also shows those around you that you’re a team player and someone who can self-reflect. This, in turn, will make people gravitate toward you, so you become more connected to the people in your life.
6. Cultivate Gratitude
Learning to be thankful for the gifts you have, rather than taking pride in them, will help cultivate a sense of humility. Gratitude actually changes the neural structures of the brain, leading to feelings of happiness and contentment. These feelings often counter pride, especially if the gratitude you’re showing is toward other people. Learning to say “thank you,” rather than expecting the actions of others because you deserve them, will help you learn how to overcome pride.
How Personal Coaching Can Help You Become a Better You
Learning how to overcome pride is an important part of becoming the best you that you can be, but it’s just one step in the process. You may also want help with your
career,
relationships, and
personal life. One of the best ways to become the best you that you can is through professional mental health coaching.
Jonette Dyer can help you embrace humility and positivity, define success,
improve your leadership abilities, and become the best version of yourself possible.
Get started with life coaching with Jonette today.
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