Swallow Your Pride

It is ok to be wrong. Suck it up. Own your mistake. Be a big kid and recognize you were wrong and move on. Holding a grudge does not win friends and creates a toxic environment for everyone around you and relationships suffer. You were wrong. Do not try to blame anyone else. Do not deflect it.

Own it.

“look what I can do! What? I’m peacocking?” photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Swallowing your pride can also be about doing something that you may believe is beneath you. Like carrying out your own office trash. Sure, you have been there in the business since God was a kid, so what? Do something that is human, something that is not designated as cognitive dissonance. Stop trying to remind everyone that you are better than that. Swallow your pride.

The key behind swallowing your pride is taking action to remedy it. Note “action” in that sentence. You made a decision and you are choosing to do something about it. Even though you may be embarrassed. You may feel it is showing weakness (which is hardly the case), or that it is putting you in a lower position to those you were wrong against.

So. What.

Actions speak louder than words.

“Sometimes we all need help” photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

Remember, you do not have to win every time. Also, recognize when you need help. Sure, you may be superhuman compared to your peers. Yet, you are quickly becoming the bottleneck by trying to do everything yourself. Get off the pedestal you set yourself upon and ask for help.

When you choose to swallow your pride, you get a mulligan. Get out jail free card. Humans are messy. We tend to make trainwrecks every now and again. This is an opportunity to take a more empathetic view of your situation. Take stock and look at the situation from the perspective of those you may have wronged. You may actually learn how you can listen and understand what they are saying. Put your perspective aside.

You may even have to make an effort to say sorry to your customers. That is terrifying. If you ignore it, whatever “it” is — the misstatement, the faux pas that you or your organization made — will it go away? No. You need to stomp that fear into the ground and do what is right, swallow that pride.

These efforts, the opportunities to grow will make you a more tolerable person. It will give you greater insight and clear the cobwebs from your eyes. Your peers, the coworkers that support the business, your subordinates, will all enjoy working with you. You will win friends. You may even win the lottery.

And remember Rule #6.

Go forth and be brilliant.