Tag: pride

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motivation

A life of Excuses

black claw hammer on brown wooden plank
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

What do we do with a life of excuses? What should we do when we find ourselves living a life of regrets and could-have-beens?

It’s too easy to make excuses when things aren’t going the way we thought they would by now. What do we do when we are tempted to put the blame on the system or a tool?

This quote by Charles Spurgeon reminds me that excuses come too easily for me.

Lazy people always find fault with their tools, and those who do not intend to work always find some excuse.
Charles Spurgeon

photo of a tractor with flat tires
Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com

What’s your excuse?

When things don’t go as expected, we can either give up or work to fix the problem. A flat tire can either be an excuse to stop working or a challenge to overcome. We don’t have to be burdened by problems. We can fix them.

Of course, if we find we can’t fix them, we can always seek help too. Maybe we don’t have the skills or tools to fix the problem, but someone else does.

Sometimes, we aren’t moving on because we are too lazy to fix it. Other times, it’s because we are too proud to ask for help. Either way, there is a solution if we are humble and diligent enough to seek it.

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Adobe Illustrator cartoon children cartoons gag cartoon single panel cartoon webcomic

Talking About Pride Cartoon

We all have it. From time to time, it comes out in ugly ways. And as parents, we see it in our kids. But if we’re honest, we know they probably learned it from us. That’s where the idea for this talking about pride cartoon came from.

Talking abut pride cartoon: A dad says, “Looks like we need to talk about pride.”

One moment, we’re doing pretty good with handling pride. The next moment, we believe we are royalty and deserve the red carpet treatment. That’s just human nature, isn’t it? We all believe we deserve to be king or queen.

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Adobe Illustrator pride relationship cartoons webcomic

Pride and Humility

Like most English words, pride is a nuanced word that can have both good and bad meanings. I like what John Maxwell says about pride and humility.

“There are two kinds of pride, both good and bad. ‘Good pride’ represents our dignity and self-respect. ‘Bad pride’ is the deadly sin of superiority that reeks of conceit and arrogance.”

John C. Maxwell

Just when we think we have humility figured out, it causes us to experience pride. The poor guy in the cartoon hasn’t figured this dilemma out yet.

Cartoon: Pride and Humility
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motivation

Biggest Obstacle to a Leader’s Growth

We consider leaders to be people with huge egos. And it does take self-confidence and bravado to rise up through the ranks of any organization or field. However, Ken Blanchard reminds me the biggest obstacle to a leader’s growth is their ego.

“The biggest obstacle that stalls leaders’ growth is the human ego. When leaders start to think they know it all, they stop growing.”

Ken Blanchard

We stop growing when we begin to think we know it all. After all, why stop growing if you’ve reached the pinnacle of knowledge and accomplishment? The ego is very good at stunting our growth.

woman standing in dry valley with leafless plants
Photo by Julia Volk on Pexels.com

And in an ever-changing world, it is foolish to believe we know it all in any and every situation. If the situation changes, how can past knowledge possibly account for that?

We experience this roadblock whenever we present a new idea and someone says, “We tried that before and it didn’t work.” Or, “The old way got us here. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” Not only does ego keep us from growing, but it also stops us from moving forward.

Pride and haughtiness blind us. The moment we think we know it all is the moment we have chosen to close our eyes to possibilities. We stop thinking and start making excuses.

When a Leader Stops Growing

When a leader decides they know it all, they stall their growth. As a result, the organization they lead stalls. It may be subtle at first. It can take years to see the results. But slowly and surely, the organization begins to die.

A leader who lets ego define them soon finds their influence dying. Without growth, there is death. And without the humility to change, people and organizations tend to fade away.

The biggest obstacle to a leader’s growth is their ego. Let’s remember to have the humility and courage to acknowledge we don’t know everything.

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Christianity

Stand or Fall

There was a time when I would read the Old Testament and would smirk at how the Israelites would stumble and fall. Today, I realize no matter who we are, we all must take care to see whether we stand or fall. The Apostle Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 10.

“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

1 Corinthians 10:12 (KJV)

Paul warned us that we are no better than anyone else. If God was with the Israelites in the wilderness, if He gave them everything they needed to survive, and yet they still made mistakes of unfaithfulness and sin, what makes us think they would be any different.

Pride blinds us from seeing potential trouble. It makes us believe we can do no wrong. Then when our sins are exposed, it keeps us from admitting we messed up. It happened to King David, and the scriptures say he was a man after God’s own heart. What makes us think it couldn’t happen to us?

When I am at a factory, there are signs everywhere that remind me of hazards. There are potentials to slip, trip, and fall on every factory floor. The person who thinks it will never happen to them is the one most likely to end up in the emergency room.

We don’t avoid slipping hazards by thinking it will never happen to us. Every factory employee knows slips, trips, and falls can happen anywhere if they aren’t paying attention. Pride comes before a fall.

Cartoon of a boy who is about to fall into a manhole. Another boy says, "I'm sorry you were proud. Just stop!"
Yes, pride comes before a fall!

On this Sunday morning, I plan to take a time of self-examination. What am I not seeing that could be potential trouble? Am I looking down on someone that is no worse than me? Could it be that their fall is a warning to me?

We may think we are standing when in reality, we may be on the ground in the muck of the gutter. It’s very sobering to remind myself that there are slip and trip hazards all around us.