Success has a tendency to increase confidence more than ability.?Being right is the enemy of staying right, because it leads you to forget the way the world works.?Profound thoughts by Morgan Housel, agree??His argument is that to stay successful, one must resist some dangerous feelings:
- Michael Sequoia, on being asked how his investment firm has thrived for 40 years, said “We have always been afraid of going out of business”
- Paranoia, which keeps you on your toes and leads you to success, is stressful as well.?So, abandoning it once success is achieved is a common mistake.
- People who quit while ahead are aware of what made them successful in the first place and when that trait begins to wane
2. Finding other people’s flaws more than improving oneself
- The Wright brothers did not make much from their invention of the airplane.?While competitors were designing better planes, they were suing people for patent infringements.?By the time the patent wars were over, their flyer had become obsolete.
- While taking position on a topic, striking the right balance between criticizing others versus evaluating whether you could be wrong is very important
- Hardwork ≠ Mastery; Only continuous skills updation leads to mastery
- Even if you know your field evolves, the idea that what you learned in the past may no longer be relevant is so painful that it’s easy to reject. The longer you’ve been in a field the truer that becomes.?
- “Expertise is great, but it has a bad side effect. It tends to create an inability to accept new ideas.” – Dean Williams
Most competitive advantages have a shelf-life – acceptance of this truth is vital to staying successful!