Friday, August 9, 2013

Here are seven things you can do nearly every day to practice humble.

Avoid taking credit. This goes beyond saying, “Aw shucks,” to deflect a compliment. Practice the discipline of secrecy by bring to keep an achievement from being known to others. That means not saying things like, “I fixed the copier, you can thank me later.”
Praise others. Pride makes us envious or resentful of another’s talents. The surest way to break that is to compliment others. Don’t pass up an opportunity.
Help others succeed. Few things attack the ego quite as much as helping others succeed. Pride hoards knowledge and resources; humility shares.
Admit your mistakes. Ugh. Nobody likes doing this, but the quicker you’re willing to say “I was wrong” the closer you are to humility.
Learn from others. This is another way of appreciating the value of others. When you acknowledge that they have advanced beyond you, you humble yourself.
Go last. At a restaurant, at family dinner, in line at a super-market, let someone else go first. It’ll do you good.
Serve someone. We instinctively resist serving because we believe there is a direct relationship between being served and being important. Bring your spouse a cup of tea, run an errand for a friend, give away some money.
The only way to be humble is to be humbled. Though that is difficult to accept, you can do it. Andrew Murray wrote, “The danger of pride is greater and nearer than we think, and the grace for humility too.”

DREAM BIG AND STAY HUMBLE


"It's hard to be humble," says an old country song, "when you're perfect in every way." Of course, few people actually think they're perfect in every way. But it can still be pretty hard to be humble, especially if you live in a society that encourages competition and individuality. Yet, even in such a culture, humility remains an important virtue. Learning to be humble is of paramount importance in most spiritual traditions, and humility can help you develop more fully and enjoy richer relationships with others.

  1. Use the response “It’s My Pleasure” when someone thanks you for doing something.
  2. Use the response “I’d be honored” when someone asks you to help them or do something with them.
  3. Listen more than you talk
  4. Count to 3 before adding to a conversation to ensure the other person is done
  5. Be willing to follow another person in conversation even if you don’t get to talk about your idea
  6. Always offer to improve someone else’s idea and give them credit
  7. Give credit for other’s ideas that you are carrying through on
  8. Ask others for the opinion of others
  9. Ask others to join conversations and contribute
  10. It’s OK to be wrong and so admit it
  11. Admit when you don’t understand or know something
  12. Appreciate others who learn something quickly and say so
  13. Be quick to apologize when you do something wrong
  14. Study moral principles
  15. Use moral principles to guide you
  16. You are God’s creation, not your own
  17. Recognize your talents as gifts, not your own ability
  18. Know how your skills have only be developed by the help of others
  19. Share your own knowledge to pass on what you have learned
  20. Pass on thanks when you receive it to those who helped you achieve what was thanked
  21. Value other people’s time as much as your own
  22. Never equate time spent with people to a dollar value
  23. Don’t boast about your achievements, let others recognize them instead
  24. Keep your goals to yourself
  25. Help other people with their goals
  26. Realize the potential in others
  27. Know that timing is everything and everyone excels at different times in life
  28. Being the 1st follower is often the best way to lead
  29. Since winning isn’t everything, you don’t have to win
  30. Recognize that you have faults
  31. Remember you are a sinner (in other words, you are no better or worse than anyone else)
  32. Ignore first impressions of people
  33. Give others the benefit of the doubt
  34. Provide positive and encouraging feedback instead of criticism
  35. Make a choice to act more humbly
  36. Practice at least one humble act each day
  37. Be grateful for successes without boasting about them
  38. Know how to accept praise with a simple thank you, don’t elaborate on it or talk more about it
  39. Recognize the individualism of others and yourself, there is no need to conform
  40. Share your core values and live them accordingly regardless of the circumstances
  41. Prioritize things in your life and rate your actions on whether to follow that priority or not
  42. Rate other people as first, be less significant
  43. Forgive those who wrong you and move on without revenge or lashing back
  44. Serve others and not yourself first
  45. Seek wisdom, which is knowledge of what is true coupled with just judgment of action
  46. Recognize and know that you know little and there is always more to learn
  47. Avoid explosive reactions, and subside any aggression
  48. Accept new ideas and change, not being stuck on what you knew before
  49. Teach all that you can for the benefit of others
  50. Learn from and model the life of the most humble teachers in history