Ego Kills Growth: How Humility Keeps You on Top

One thing I’ve noticed as you stack wins and get more successful is that pride becomes way more dangerous than failure ever was.

At some point, you start thinking you’ve got it figured out. You start believing you’re impressive. And the moment that happens, you become almost impossible to correct. Impossible to teach. You put yourself in a mental echo chamber where your own success insulates you from reality.

I’ve seen this play out on a world scale. People dominate. They win. They surround themselves with agreement. Pride seals them off from feedback. And that cocoon eventually becomes their downfall.

So as I’ve gotten more accomplished, I’ve tried to do the opposite of what pride wants, because I already made the mistake of thinking I was somebody. I intentionally put myself around people who are exceptional. People who are serious about being extraordinary. People whose standards are so high that no matter what you’ve done, they treat you like you have a long way to go.

If you’ve ever been around people like that, you know the feeling. Compared to them, you are not doing much. Not because they are cruel, but because they are relentless about improvement.

Here’s a line that stuck with me. People love being around wealth and success, but they cannot handle what it actually demands. People who are truly exceptional will expose your gaps fast. They will make you feel inadequate if you are not pushing to get better. If you are comfortable where you are, you will not last around them.

That experience is humbling. And that is the point.

Pride makes you fragile.

Humility keeps you coachable.

If you want to keep winning long term, you have to stay in rooms where your ego does not get to run the show.