Your Pride Is a Powerful Motivator and Therefore Harms It.
There are many proverbs against pride. “Pride comes before death” and all that. However, healthy pride in your work can be very motivating. Taking the wounds of your pride, all the more.
As the 99u productivity site explains, there are many kinds of pride. Pride, which we would call “arrogance,” not only says that you are confident in your abilities, but that you cannot do anything wrong. This can quickly lead to your own death. However, pride in your work – simply pride in what you have done and in the fact that it benefits others – can keep you motivated to do a good job, even if you don’t need it. Instead of putting in a minimum of effort, your pride forces you to move on to satisfy yourself .
However, such pride is easily hurt. When you fail or fall short of your own expectations, it’s uncomfortable and you feel bad about the work you’re doing. In this situation, 99u suggests embracing the feeling, rather than running away from it, in order to motivate itself to improve:
If you’ve recently experienced frustration – perhaps a project was rejected, or your last job failed – and you feel a clear lack of pride, try not to bury that emotional discomfort. Instead, use it to motivate yourself to make the necessary changes to make a difference.
If you internalize your criticisms and failures too much, it can turn into shame, with very few positive motivators. Shame says that you cannot do anything and you cannot try. Allowing yourself to feel proud – and expecting it to be hurt from time to time – can push you to do your best.
Why pride is good | 99u