Theologian and author of “The Chronicles of Narnia”, C.S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”
The lack of Humility is easy to spot in others, yet it can be difficult to see in ourselves. Humility is seen as a virtue because it’s a difficult quality to develop. It threatens our sensitive egos. Let’s face it, we all have an ego. We as people can believe our own survival depends on what “I” do or what will happen to “me”. A healthy ego can give us a sense of purpose, value, and confidence.
On the other hand, an unhealthy ego can dominate our thoughts and decisions as our desire t be right becomes our main goal. This is, even more, the case when our intellect is on the line. This is a normal human response but just because it’s normal doesn’t make it good.
Just because we’re wrong doesn’t mean that we are less of a person or ignorant and it doesn’t have to hurt our ego. Humility allows us to see that there are forces outside of our control. We are merely human with limited abilities. Our knowledge may be limited or misleading or we may simply misunderstand a situation.
Investing with Humility
Acknowledging that we don’t know everything and that we can be wrong, help us to take a more thoughtful approach to our decision-making. It forces us to be more conservative in our assumptions and requires us to sharpen our focus.
Humility can help us to stick to our personal investment plan and help to reduce the likelihood of making costly mistakes. In my experience as a Wealth Management Advisor, the greatest risk to reaching your financial goals is making costly mistakes.