Bill Gates Said “Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces people into thinking they can’t lose”. Success should foster Humility, if it does not, it only increases in the individual a stronger more unhealthy sense of competition. The fear of failure creates in one a frustration and a fear of not performing up to the level. As George Sheehan said “Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be” The more successful a person the more humble he should be. Such people stand the true test of life.
Success together with Humility enables a person to expand his horizons and improve upon the success he has achieved. When success is not teamed with humility it means they have lost the capacity to develop. Success alone makes people insecure due to the fear of losing it. “Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.” Many famous people experienced severe failure but nothing could snuff out the flame of their desires to succeed or attain success. In his early years, teachers told Edison he was “too stupid to learn anything.” Work was no better, as he was fired from his first two jobs for not being productive enough. Even as an inventor, Edison made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts at inventing the light bulb. Of course, all those unsuccessful attempts finally resulted in the design that worked because he had humility. Thus success requires humility and hard work. As Churchill said “success consists of going f rom one failure to another without a loss of enthusiasm” Edison went from one failure to another failure only to become a success. Failure and success are part of the same coin. Thus the failures on the road to success should humble a person rather than make him proud when he attains success.
Success without humility makes a person compete unhealthily to attain success as it can be seen in the case of the sporting sphere where athletes compete under the influence of diuretics and drugs to enhance their performance. Sometimes teams are bribed with sums of money in order to allow other teams to win If success is attained by drug abuse and bribe it is not success. “Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted ” as David Bly said. The brain child of Muhammad Yunus the grameen banks which made him successful not only added to his success but was aimed at eradicating poverty in his state of Bangladesh. His grameen bank ideas were finally implemented in the western world due to its far reaching effects in Bangladesh. Muhammad Yunus shared his success with world indicating his humility. He managed to translate his vision into a practical action for the benefit of millions of people. This is true success coupl ed with humility as it benifted millions an did not make the inventor arrogant.
Success has been given more importance than it deserves in today’s world. Success is what defines a person an makes him popular among him his peers in today’s world. People do not note the effort that goes into attaining success this creates a sense of envy an jealousy leading to conflict. The modern world is obsessed with the idea of instant fame and success thus success alone is leading to violence. A school boy killed his classmate because he was more successful than him in class. If success causes violence it is not success as it unleashes the animalistic instincts of man in order to make him attain success. Success depends entirely on the effort you put in it is not instant as Sophocles said “ Success is dependent on effort “ success along with humility makes a person simple an humble and resigned.
Recently the resignation letter of Steve Jobs is a remarkable example of success coupled with humility he states “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.” Steve Jobs the successful CEO never let success get the better of him; he resigned in all humility despite being so successful stating that he was going to contribute to the further development of apple in a different role. He vested great confidence in his successor Tim Cook. His success never made him arrogant and his Position in Apple never made him feel indispensible. He expressed his confidence in his successor Tim Cook saying “As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple. I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it.”This highlights his humi lity despite being one of the most successful CEO’s of Apple.
Ratan Tata the chairman of Tata groups has never let success come in his way he used his success to promote his country and the youth of India. The Nano was his brainchild which benefited society and the youth of India. His dream was to provide an affordable means of transport for the lower rungs of society. Tata is a true success as his success is the fruit of years of labour. He started out sitting on the floor and working with blue collar workers with limestone. His turnovers went to charity. We live in an era of instant success which can take an individual to the brink an remove every element from the success thus depriving the individual of being a success. Success which is the outcome of immense efforts and good intentions mellows people and makes them humble. It is this kind of success coupled with humility that inspires individuals to return back to society in a large way. Thus success an humility coupled together enable one to attain ultimate and true success.
Tisha Maria Mendes
Loreto College
'Campus Writing' 