Humility and being humble are the traits of a remarkable human. I was probably born with them, as I believe that I have these traits engraved in me since my childhood. Thanks to Allah, and specially my humble parents.
But being born with something doesn’t make you great or remarkable. For you are not born great, but you strive for and achieve greatness with your endeavors. One has to hone the traits – one’s strengths. Nurture them. One has to nurture them continuously, for their entire life.
Greatness, just like perfection, is a journey, not a destination.
Accept disgrace willingly…
Accept being unimportant…
Surrender yourself humbly; then you can be trusted to care for all things.
Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things.– Taoism
One of the most essential steps on becoming humble and letting humility take root in you is to kill your ego.
Jawwad Farid, a successful entrepreneur in the budding entrepreneurial culture of Pakistan, from Alchemy has posted an excellent write-up on his blog on how killing your ego will make your life saner, your clients happier, business prosper, and how it would keep you from turning red, white or blue.
Another excellent write-up, a thorough analysis on humility, that I found: I’m glad that I’m a nobody: A positive psychology of humility by Dr. Paul T. P. Wong. An excerpt is in order:
Is humility practical?
How do we practice the virtue of humility in such a competitive, winner-take-all world? We can all agree that humility is an admirable quality in others, because we feel safe and comfortable around people who are meek and humble. But when it comes to ourselves, we may consider humility a hindrance to success and a by-product of failure.
How can anyone achieve success without ambition and a competitive spirit? Who does not feel elated and proud after accomplishing something great? Humility appears to be a foreign concept in a capitalist economy.
Perhaps, humility seems to make sense only when we find ourselves soundly defeated. Then, we can at least claim that we have learned the important virtue of humility, which is sorely lacking in others. Such self-consolation gives us the needed reprieve, until we are ready to get back on our feet to fight yet another battle.
Exactly. These few lines are what confuse me about my aspirations and my humbleness. But Wong clarifies the confusions quite amicably, and links it to being beneficial to mental health, social relationships, leadership, world peace and human progress.
Greatness is a journey. Humility its first step. Take it.