The One Attribute That Frequently Destroys Careers
How You Can Supercharge Your Success By Not Falling Into This Trap
The One Attribute That Frequently Destroys Careers
How You Can Supercharge Your Success By Not Falling Into This Trap
Written by a human, for humans, always.
I have worked with a lot of different types of people in my work...
From C-suite executives...
To entrepreneurs...
Even to Olympic-hopeful athletes.
From food production to Hollywood.
But among all the people I have worked with...
There are a lot of people whom I have not worked with...
People whom I have spoken with who had real challenges...
But elected not to use my services.
That is a part of every business.
Here’s the thing...
Whenever I prepare to potentially take on any client...
I try to look into their lives.
Get a sense of who they are and what types of challenges they face.
I’ll look at social media and business websites...
All to begin to understand if they are the type of person I’d like to work with.
In today’s world, though...
When you start to pay attention to something...
That thing will surface more frequently.
That is just how social media and advertising work today.
So even with people who I do not end up working with...
I still often see what is going on with their lives and businesses over the next few months...
And there is one attribute that I have seen destroy multiple careers.
What is that attribute?
Pride.
See...
What happens for so many people...
Is that they reach a certain level of success in something...
Then they believe that they have to continue to perform at either that level or higher.
That is not reality...
That is a perception...
A perception that stems from a form of pride...
Sometimes subconsciously.
This is where it becomes a problem, though...
For many people...
Whatever level of success they have obtained...
Was thrown together...
Through shoddy processes and mechanisms.
Did it work to get them to that level of success?
Yes.
Perhaps they were even necessary in the moment.
But the problem is...
That type of development when you continue to push...
Will destroy everything.
I have watched C-suite executives gamble their entire careers only to become blacklisted.
I have watched entrepreneurs attempt to get to another level only to demolish their entire life savings, struggling to get any sort of job to pay bills.
I have watched athletes reach what should have been their moment of triumph, only to have their bodies literally break.
All because they reached a level of success...
And their pride pushed them to move forward when they did not have the proper structures - business and psychophysiological - in place.
It is hard to watch.
Sadly, it happens frequently.
This can be avoided, though.
But there is a price...
One that most people fail to allow themselves to experience.
Humility.
Let me give you an example from my recent life.
Amidst all the things I do for my business...
I am also a semi-professional athlete.
I have sponsors who expect a certain level of success from me.
I train my body a lot, and I have had some incredible results.
I have completed a 777-day running streak (still ongoing)...
Running every single day...
At least one mile...
Usually barefoot (except in unfamiliar locations and during competitions where I wear barefoot shoes).
I have had podium finishes in obstacle-course races.
I often write about why having a physically healthy body is important to every aspect of our lives...
Which also translates to business success.
There is a significant amount that is on the line for me to have success.
And...
A couple of months ago, I had a problem.
My right shin was starting to feel pain when I ran.
It was not a serious injury...
I have not stopped running...
But I knew that if I was going to continue to push...
It would get worse.
At that time, I was running sub-seven-minute miles...
While only nose-breathing, which is significantly harder to maintain the faster you run.
So...
What did I do?
I knew that there had to be something structural in my running that I was doing wrong...
Meaning I needed to slow down.
I needed to let go of my pride that was demanding higher results...
And figure out what the problem was.
So in my training...
I began to run at sub-twelve-minute miles.
Around 5 minutes longer per mile, give or take, on any given day.
That is like going from an elite-amateur...
To barely average recreational.
It felt painfully slow to me...
Embarrassingly slow.
And...
I knew it was necessary...
That I needed to live in that humility...
Because if I did not...
I knew it would have the potential to end my physical career...
Possibly forever.
Two months later?
I had a run last night...
2.14 miles total...
Sub-eight-minute miles...
No pain.
Not quite where I was before...
But getting back to it...
With significantly better form.
In my life...
I have watched so many people...
Try to sprint faster in their careers when their legs started to hurt...
Only for them to break in the process.
Missing red flags.
Crushing burnout.
Deep depression.
Team destruction.
Loss of family.
Trauma.
Inability to continue in a chosen industry.
Financial ruin.
All of these and more.
All because people had too much pride to admit they had a real problem...
All because they felt they had to meet certain levels of expectations that really they only had of themselves...
All because they failed to have the momentary humility to slow down and fix their problems.
This is what they all miss...
If you are trying to run on an injured leg...
You really are not running as fast as you are capable of.
The faster you try to run on the injured leg...
The more damage you do to the leg...
And the worse the results become.
But...
If you actually recover properly...
Fix the problems...
Build more powerfully...
You end up discovering that the pace you were running at before...
Was slower than what was possible.
But...
You only reach higher heights on strong legs...
And sometimes...
That is a process to discover exactly what is going wrong.
However...
When you discover where the problems are...
Fix them...
Then build back up...
You end up discovering that you are supercharging your success.
You gain the capacity to go faster and further than would ever have been possible the way you were operating before.
This only happens...
If you drop your pride...
And accept some humility with where you currently are.
The choice is yours...
You can destroy your career...
Or you can fix the problems with humility.
I have watched many people choose the former...
But you can be wise...
And choose the latter.
To Your Sageship,
Cody
P.S. - It can be Difficult to Figure Out How To Achieve…
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