Why do I find success scary? Because right behind success comes overconfidence. Call it what you will: resting on your laurels, calling it in instead of showing up, coasting or complacency; it is a common weakness of human nature. It is the rarest of skills: the ability, the will, to stay motivated, focused, driven, hungry when the wolf is no longer at your heels. When life is no longer providing motivation from without, can you find it within?
You heard it here: If you don’t act like the wolf is at the door, sooner or later the wolf will be at your door. So many work hard to achieve a certain position… and then begin to coast when they get it… Some bosses tolerate that (usually because they are too!), the best don’t. Trouble is, coasting only works downhill. In good times, it can take a long time for coasting to catch up with an organization but when it does, the pain can be excruciating.
Closing Quotes:
“Complacency is a continuous struggle that we all have to fight.” – Jack Nicklaus
“I think it’s dangerous to think that you’re successful, because then you become complacent.” – Tommy Hilfiger
“Resting on your laurels is as dangerous as resting when you are walking in the snow. You doze off and die in your sleep.” – Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1889-1951
“‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant or the scared. It’s an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms.” – Colin Powell, 1937-2021
“Complacency is a blight that saps energy, dulls attitudes, and causes a drain in the brain. The first symptom is satisfaction with things as they are. The second is rejection of things as they might be. ‘Good enough’ becomes today’s watchword and tomorrow’s standard.” – Alex and Brett Harris
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier