Self-Mentoring XV ... “This cannot happen here/to me” is a potentially fatal lie
We all like success and we all want to avoid ridicule. We’re being raised in this climate, putting the pressure on ourselves to strive for more. I’ve already wrote about the “pursuit of growth for the sake of growth” so I’d only repeat myself here. However, the title says something else which is related to our “growth” or a perception of safety, be it personal or communal. It is a personal property that is largely visible or loud. It is easily spotted by an average person but for reasons completely incomprehensible to me it is revered rather than shunned; arrogance. And today we’re going to take a peek into what it is.
First thing’s first, an “obligatory” quote, or in this case, a definition:
Arrogance is a counterfeit of confidence.
Sounds rather interesting, right? Especially after I tell you that they’re in fact not necessarily mutually exclusive and a person, who’s completely confident in one area, can easily fall into a trap of arrogance. So how do they differ? It’s in how they present. Both require an action but the key is in how. Confidence demands the action to be performed right. Arrogance requires an action to be performed just well enough that the lack of competence can be masked for the masses. By reading this you’d always put much more faith in the confident person, right? Right? So why did you put it in the arrogant one? Presentation, that’s why. To mask an act of arrogance, a show needs to be put on. A theatre to cast an illusion, to please the crowd and to exclude the ones who’d see the truth. And why does it work? Because we want it to.
Now, how does it relate to the title? You’ll get the idea with this quote:
Confidence is admitting that you can succeed. Arrogance is refusing the possibility you can fail.
See dots to connect? A confident person is aware of their skills and abilities and applies them in a way to reach their goal; success. An arrogant person is fully aware of their lack of skills and/or understanding and exercises maximum effort to reach prevent their biggest fear; failure. Now, taking the quote from the title a confident person to say: “I’ll use my skills to make sure this doesn’t happen to me.” An arrogant person would add: “This cannot happen to me. I’m too good for this.” See the difference? Even better, can you sense the emotion in those two quotes? Does the first one sound motivational, prompting action, sparking curiosity? Does the other one sound defensive, insincere? Now look at the world around you ask yourself the question: “Are we confident and using our abilities to the fullest? Or are we just arrogant, hiding behind noble goals while masking our incompetence and cowardice?” The answer is up to you. And remember:
If your response to something is “This cannot happen to here/to me”, it is only a matter of time until it does happen. And then you will gleefully sleepwalk into a much worse disaster.
R.R.A.