50 Ways To Be More Humble

"It's hard to be humble," says an old country song, "when you're perfect in every way." Of course, few people actually think they're perfect in every way. But it can still be pretty hard to be humble, especially if you live in a society that encourages competition and individuality. Yet, even in such a culture, humility remains an important virtue. Learning to be humble is of paramount importance in most spiritual traditions, and humility can help you develop more fully and enjoy richer relationships with others.

1. Use the response “It’s My Pleasure” when someone thanks you for doing something.
2. Use the response “I’d be honored” when someone asks you to help them or do something with them.
3. Listen more than you talk
4. Count to 3 before adding to a conversation to ensure the other person is done
5. Be willing to follow another person in conversation even if you don’t get to talk about your idea
6. Always offer to improve someone else’s idea and give them credit
7. Give credit for other’s ideas that you are carrying through on
8. Ask others for the opinion of others
9. Ask others to join conversations and contribute
10. It’s OK to be wrong and so admit it
11. Admit when you don’t understand or know something
12. Appreciate others who learn something quickly and say so
13. Be quick to apologize when you do something wrong
14. Study moral principles
15. Use moral principles to guide you
16. You are God’s creation, not your own
17. Recognize your talents as gifts, not your own ability
18. Know how your skills have only be developed by the help of others
19. Share your own knowledge to pass on what you have learned
20. Pass on thanks when you receive it to those who helped you achieve what was thanked
21. Value other people’s time as much as your own
22. Never equate time spent with people to a dollar value
23. Don’t boast about your achievements, let others recognize them instead
24. Keep your goals to yourself
25. Help other people with their goals
26. Realize the potential in others
27. Know that timing is everything and everyone excels at different times in life
28. Being the 1st follower is often the best way to lead
29. Since winning isn’t everything, you don’t have to win
30. Recognize that you have faults
31. Remember you are a sinner (in other words, you are no better or worse than anyone else)
32. Ignore first impressions of people
33. Give others the benefit of the doubt
34. Provide positive and encouraging feedback instead of criticism
35. Make a choice to act more humbly
36. Practice at least one humble act each day
37. Be grateful for successes without boasting about them
38. Know how to accept praise with a simple thank you, don’t elaborate on it or talk more about it
39. Recognize the individualism of others and yourself, there is no need to conform
40. Share your core values and live them accordingly regardless of the circumstances
41. Prioritize things in your life and rate your actions on whether to followed that priority or not
42. Rate other people as first, be less significant
43. Forgive those who wrong you and move on without revenge or lashing back
44. Serve others and not yourself first
45. Seek wisdom, which is knowledge of what is true coupled with just judgment of action
46. Recognize and know that you know little and there is always more to learn
47. Avoid explosive reactions, and subside any aggression
48. Accept new ideas and change, not being stuck on what you knew before
49. Teach all that you can for the benefit of others
50. Learn from and model the life of the most humble teachers in history (Jesus, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Buddha, etc)

Originally posted on: Learn This