Success can often feed into our egos and get inside our heads. We achieve something awesome in life, and we begin to feel a toxic sense of superiority that can last for days, weeks, months, and even years.
There’s the old saying that “success changes people,” and for many people that may be true. We commonly see successful athletes, musicians, actors and celebrities act in reckless and immoral ways simply because they feel their success entitles them to whatever they want.
Don’t let success bring out the worst in you. Learn to manage it and keep yourself grounded even when you’re out there doing amazing thing. Here are the key ways you can avoid becoming intoxicated by your success.
1. Don’t let success blind you from your other values in life
Sometimes we get so consumed with success (often in our work or career or finances) that we lose sight of other values that matter to us in life.
For example, we become so addicted to our job that we begin go neglect our friends and family. So even while we may be achieving success in one area of our lives, we may be failing in another area.
Real success needs to take into consideration all of your values, and not just the ones that people typically perceive as “success.” Try to broaden your view of success, and recognize that it is more than just money, fame, or sex.
Jim Carrey
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”
Albert Einstein
“I conceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things.”
Benjamin Franklin
2. Don’t let success turn you into a cocky a******
When we find ourselves more successful than others in a certain area of life, it can often breed arrogance and contempt toward people who we now see as “inferior” to us.
Often, we celebrate too much. We brag and show off our accomplishments, and we are try to use them as evidence when we want to prove that we are better than someone else.
Instead, try to keep yourself centered by recognizing that everyone has both strengths and weakness, including yourself. For everything you are amazing at, there is likely something you are equally terrible at. That should keep you humble and modest, even in the face of your success.
Criss Jami
“Being proud isn’t bragging about how great you are; it’s more like quietly knowing that you’re worth a lot.”
Marc and Angel
“A person unlearns arrogance when he knows he is always among worthy human beings.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
3. Don’t let success stop you from learning, growing, and evolving
Success can sometimes make us stagnant. We get to a certain point where we become content with our past accomplishments, and we begin to think that there’s no longer a need to continue growing or improving.
But no matter what you’ve achieved in your life – whether you’ve won a Nobel Prize or you used to be a CEO of a billion dollar company – there is always room for progress.
There should never be an “end point” to your success. Everyday presents new challenges and opportunities, so we really don’t stop learning and growing until the day that we die.
Babe Ruth
“Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.”
Bill Gates
“The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.”
William Pollard
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