Humility and Self-improvement

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to

your former self.” – Ernest Hemingway

In a beautiful stroke of brevity and wit, Hemingway touches on several very important

aspects of success.

I would like to dissect this quote, here attributed to Hemingway, and take a look at how it can be

applied to sales and the business world, generally.

Before we begin, dear reader, it must be stated that the quote has not been verified as an actual quote of Hemingway, but rather is listed under his name in various places on the internet — thereby attributing it to the

late author through repetition rather than citation.

Regardless of its origin, the quote touches on two key aspects of success — humility and self-

improvement.

Humility

A key to long term happiness is humility.

You can’t base your happiness off the success of others.

If you are constantly comparing your life to the lives of others, you will regularly find yourself

wanting.

No matter how high you rise there will be a tier of people over you, looking down.

Now, this can serve as motivation to work harder and achieve more.

Having goals to chase and a dream to fulfill are crucial and necessary, but there must be a balance between constantly

comparing yourself to other, more successful people and finding happiness in where you are currently.

Now don’t interpret that as permission to grow complacent or lazy.

You have to always be trying to grow and improve, but the key is to not do so for others,

but rather for yourself.

If your happiness is dictated by the success of others, you may find yourself at 70 with a life

unlived.

At the risk of being overly cliche, dear reader, I will use another quote; “The only time you look in your

neighbor’s bowl is to make sure that they have enough.

You don’t look in your neighbor’s bowl to see if you have as much as them.” - Louis C.K.

Self-improvement

After encouraging us to not compare ourselves to others, Hemingway goes on to describe who we should be

comparing ourselves to – our former selves.

We can achieve “true nobility” by striving to be better than previous versions of ourselves.

We should identify where we can improve and then enact changes that will manifest in

tangible betterment.

Only though critical reflection on your past choices, habits, and actions are we able to identify what has been limiting

growth, stunting success and thereby know what to change.

Positive change must come from within if you want lasting results.

It is not a totally useless endeavor to try and replicate the habits of successful people, but what is more important is

looking at what you do, what you can do, and what works for you.

By basing your successes on your former success, rather than others around you, then you can figure out how to continue to grow.