Do not confuse arrogance with self confidence

Moving forward in order to complete a task requires time and efforts. Nothing can be accomplished without those. After a while, we normally get better but we might also see ourselves as better than others. That’s normally when the false sense of self confidence starts to change into arrogance. 

I say “false” because in the end it hides an insecurity of not being enough and being afraid to be seen as an impostor. So we end up learning just enough to show others we “know” and can’t wait to share how great we are. 

Comparing ourselves to others is a slippery slope and something we should observe very closely. We need to be careful so we don’t fall for the tempting feeling of seeing ourselves as superior. The moment we start to do so, we stop improving because we think we already know it all. 

While it might be true that we’re able and can accomplish a lot at times, continuously improving is essential so we don’t become complacent and stop our personal growth. Limiting the knowledge we acquire as soon as we know “enough” to feel above others won’t be sustainable over time as we’ll get surpassed one day by someone hungrier and more determined than us.

Don’t get me wrong, healthy competition is good but I’m not focusing on competing with others here. In fact, the competition should be against ourself so we constantly become a better version of our yesterday’s self: that’s the only baseline on which we should concentrate our efforts and improve upon.

Let’s stop trying to be better than others and constantly wanting to prove it to them, and let’s just improve our own life by becoming better: let the actions speak louder than the words.