Humility

One of the most difficult, yet one of the most important qualities to practice in a job (or really, any situation), is humility. What does practicing humility look like?

Humility is accepting that I am one among many and I am here to serve others around me. It is the antidote to pride and the attitude of “I’m better than this.”

 Jobs come with many different tasks and responsibilities. Some of those tasks are not fun or what you’d like to be spending your time on. We can spend our time daydreaming that our job was different, or that someone else could be doing these tasks. Or, we can accept that we are here for this job and we are here to perform.

We perform by doing our job without complaining. We accomplish these tasks and see how we can improve the process. We connect with our co-workers to see how we can support one another in similar tasks. We ask our boss for feedback and may possibly present a plan for change if we have carefully thought it out.

Our job is to do our job. We have a choice in our perspectives. Our perspectives shape our attitudes. If we begin with a perspective of humility, our attitudes shift from “I deserve” to “I serve”. As we see our jobs as places where we can serve others, we can be successful anywhere.

Good Practice:

1. Think about one job task that you don’t enjoy doing.
2. Visualize how it would change if you acted as if you really enjoyed doing it. What kind of perspective shift and attitude would that require?
3. Write down ways that you are serving others or your organization by doing this task.
4. Complete the task while practicing your new ways of thinking.