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Why Is It Important to Stay Humble?

Tiara Blain, MA, is a freelance writer for Verywell Mind. She is a health writer and researcher passionate about the mind-body connection, and holds a Master's degree in psychology.

i am a humble person essay

Dr. Sabrina Romanoff, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and a professor at Yeshiva University’s clinical psychology doctoral program.

i am a humble person essay

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What Is Humility?

Benefits of being humble, how to be more humble, humility is underrated.

Humility is the ability to view yourself accurately as an individual with talents as well as flaws while being void of arrogance and low self-esteem .

Humility is not always acknowledged as a relevant trait to possess, but it is in fact a remarkable character strength .

Humility isn’t always seen as a strength but sometime’s thought of as a weakness. Some believe that humility is having low opinions of yourself , low self-esteem, and a lack of confidence. It is in fact the opposite, humility is having the self-esteem to understand that even though you are doing well, you do not have to brag or gloat about it. 

It is important to stay humble because having humility not only helps you develop a more kind approach to interacting with others but it also influences how you perceive yourself and the world around you.

Strengthens Connection With Others

Humility helps one extend more compassion and empathy to others. Those who practice humility are more likely to consider others’ beliefs and opinions. This is most likely because humility offers the opportunity to become less self-involved and more attuned with the feelings of others.

This is because humility offers the opportunity to become less self-involved and more attuned with the feelings of others.

If you're able to be happy for others and their accomplishments and not be consumed by jealousy or self-pity, this can help your develop more positive relationships .

Broaden's Perspective of Self

Humility also helps in the development of self-growth and self-awareness, because it allows one to rationally acknowledge ways in which they can improve themself.

Humility can produce more happiness , positive emotions, and well-being because a person has a clearer understanding of the self. They are able to be comfortable with who they are and who they are not. 

In a study evaluating undergraduate students' perspectives of humility, researchers found humility to be associated with positive emotion and good psychological adjustment.

Broaden's Perspective of the World

Humility can help develop a more profound and evolved outlook of the world and what is going on in it. Humility allows you to consciously be aware that you bring worth to this world but that there are many others in the world who also have a purpose . 

Strengthens Connection Between Spirituality, Religion & Well-Being

Humility is a religious virtue. There is a correlation between humility, positive well-being , religion , and spirituality . 

Researchers discovered that for those with a moderate amount of humility, as opposed to lower levels, humility acts as a moderator that helps facilitate positive psychological functioning for those who consider themselves religious or spiritual.

According to researchers, these results could indicate that a person must have some form of humility in order for humility to act as a moderator to these factors. 

Let's take a look at ways in which you can learn to be more humble.

Don't Mix Up Pride With Prideful

Most would consider humility the antonym of pride and may associate pride as being a bad trait to possess.

Pride is not a negative thing, it is actually quite important. Pride comes from being proud and there is nothing wrong with being proud of yourself or where you come from.

Taking pride in yourself, your culture, your achievements, etc. are great qualities. It’s important to embrace who you are, what you’ve accomplished and the journey it took to get there.

Pride is the appreciation of yourself and your beliefs, it is having confidence and assurance that you are an important and relevant contribution to this world.

However, if pride becomes extreme that is when humility is absent and a person may exhibit selfish or narcissistic behaviors.

If a person begins to think they are better than others and only makes decisions that depend on what’s best for them, they are considered self-centered and prideful. Obsessive pride makes it difficult to be considerate to others or form genuine relationships. People who are too prideful may not notice or realize that there are areas in which they can improve on.

Prideful people may also find it difficult to be self-aware when they are in the wrong.

Do Some Soul Searching

Usually, those who are prideful display a cockiness that often stems from unidentified insecurities. Overly high self-esteem is not actually confidence but in fact repressed negative emotions towards oneself.

Researchers in the field of social psychology found individuals who displayed egotism and narcissism presented higher levels of “displaced aggression” when hearing insults that threatened their egos.

Understand Yourself Better

Insecurities that people don't often acknowledge could be the source of egotistic or self-righteous behavior to protect oneself from criticism from others or rejection. It’s important to evaluate if overly high self-esteem may originate from your own insecurities or past experiences. A mental health professional can help you get some more insight into who are you and who you would like to be.

Give Out Compliments When You Can

Acknowledging the achievements and accomplishments of others can help you move the focus off of yourself a bit.

Compliment people for jobs well done. Focusing on the feelings of others sometimes helps you get out of yourself more.

We all need to hear from others every now and then that we’re on the right track, so be the person that assures someone they’re doing OK.

Don't Be a Pushover

Don’t confuse humility with compliancy. Holding people to high regard and consideration does not mean you must allow them to walk all over you.

You should always stand up for yourself and what you believe and do your best no matter what. The point of humility is that you do not have to make someone feel worthless while doing so. This doesn't mean becoming a pushover though.

Allowing others to take advantage of you can take a toll on your well-being. This also impacts an individual’s confidence and can cause resentment, so be sure to consider yourself while considering others.

Many people do not realize how essential it is to be humble. This may be because they do not fully understand the concept or have yet to learn what it means to be humble.

Humility in Society

After coming across a survey evaluating life satisfaction in middle-aged adults, experts in positive psychology found it concerning that humility and modesty were not highly recognized character traits that equated to life satisfaction. This discovery forced them to reflect on America’s culture in regards to how we view such traits as humility. 

In a very communist society, individuals embed a “survivor of the fittest” mindset, in which the stronger and better reach the top, so people are forced to develop a “ lookout for your own” viewpoint. People are exposed to consistent competition as children where they're competing for attention in academia, athletics, and the home. Later, in adulthood, this competitive nature rears its head in career settings.

Similar ideologies are present in what both children and adults watch and listen to. The culture of the entertainment industry, such as music, television, and other sources often consuming our attention, finds a need to portray very vain and egocentric concepts.

In a study including undergraduate students, humility was not viewed as a quality necessary for entertainers or leaders. This makes it difficult to understand the need for humility not just in how we engage with each other, but in how we view the world.

A Word From Verywell

Even if you were the best at something this time, be modest because you just may not be the best next time around, and that’s OK. Accept failure graciously whenever it occurs and humbly support others by giving someone else their flowers and a standing ovation when it's due. Sometimes you won't be the one on the stage receiving the flowers and it can feel just as satisfying in the audience, sitting down and being humble. 

Tangney JP. Humility: Theoretical perspectives, empirical findings and directions for future research. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. 2000;19(1):70–82. doi:10.1521/jscp.2000.19.1.70

Harvey JH. Pauwels BG. Modesty, humility, character strength, and positive psychology. Social and Clinical Psychology. 2005;23(5): doi:10.1521/jscp.23.5.620.50753

Van Tongeren DR, Davis DE, Hook JN, Witvliet C vanOyen. Humility . Current directions in psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society . 2019;28(5):463-468. doi:10.1177/0963721419850153

Exline JJ, Geyer AL. Perceptions of Humility: A Preliminary Study. Self and Identity. 2004;95-114. doi:10.1080/13576500342000077

Kellenberger J. Humility . University of Illinois Press. 2010;47(4):321-336.

Paine DR, Sandage SJ, Ruffing EG, Hill PC. Religious and Spiritual Salience, Well-Being, and Psychosocial Functioning Among Psychotherapy Clients: Moderator Effects for Humility. J Relig Health . 2018;57(6):2398-2415. doi:10.1007/s10943-018-0612-4

Bushman BJ, Baumeister RF. Threatened egotism, narcissism, self-esteem, and direct and displaced aggression: does self-love or self-hate lead to violence? . J Pers Soc Psychol . 1998;75(1):219-229. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.75.1.219

By Tiara Blain, MA Tiara Blain, MA, is a freelance writer for Verywell Mind. She is a health writer and researcher passionate about the mind-body connection, and holds a Master's degree in psychology.

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Essay on Humility

Students are often asked to write an essay on Humility in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Humility

What is humility.

Humility is when someone knows their strengths and weaknesses and doesn’t act better than others. It’s like being a team player in sports. A humble person is kind and doesn’t brag about what they can do. They treat everyone the same, whether that person is a teacher or a student.

Why Humility Matters

Being humble is important because it helps us learn and grow. When we’re humble, we can listen to others and understand that we don’t know everything. This makes us better friends and students because we’re open to new ideas and help.

Showing Humility

To show humility, you can say “thank you” when someone helps you and admit when you make mistakes. It’s also being happy for others when they do well. Humble people don’t need to be the center of attention; they’re okay with letting others shine too.

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250 Words Essay on Humility

Understanding humility.

Humility is like a special power that does not make a lot of noise but can be felt by everyone. It means you do not brag about what you can do or what you have. Instead, you stay quiet about your talents and let your actions speak for you. People who are humble often think about others before themselves.

Why Being Humble is Good

When you are humble, you are kind to others and you do not act as if you are better than anyone else. This makes people feel good around you and they may want to be your friend. Also, when you make a mistake, being humble helps you to say sorry and learn from it.

Humility at School

At school, humility can help you work well with other students. If you are good at a subject, instead of showing off, you can help your classmates. This way, everyone can do better and feel happy about learning.

How to Practice Humility

To practice humility, you can start by listening more than you talk. When someone else is speaking, give them your full attention. Also, be thankful for what you have and help others without expecting anything back.

In conclusion, humility is not about hiding what you are good at. It is about being kind, listening, and helping others. When you are humble, you make the world a nicer place for everyone.

500 Words Essay on Humility

Humility is a quality that shows you don’t think you are better than other people. It’s when you understand your own strengths and weaknesses, and you don’t act as if you are more important than others. A humble person is someone who listens more than they speak and who respects other people’s views and feelings.

Being humble is important because it helps us get along with others. When someone is not full of themselves, people enjoy being around them more. Humble people are often seen as kind, and they make friends easily because they treat everyone the same, no matter who they are. This quality is like a magnet that draws people together and builds trust.

In school, humility is very useful. A student who is humble does not show off when they get good grades. Instead, they might help others who are struggling. Humble students also are not afraid to ask for help when they don’t understand something. They know that asking questions is a way to learn, not a sign of weakness.

Humility in Leaders

Good leaders are often humble. They understand that they don’t have all the answers and that they need their team to succeed. Humble leaders give credit to others for their success and take responsibility when things go wrong. This makes people want to work hard for them and share their best ideas.

You can practice humility every day. Try to listen more than you talk. When you do something well, enjoy it but don’t brag. Remember to say “thank you” and “please,” and admit when you make a mistake. Also, try to learn about others and appreciate what makes them special.

Challenges of Being Humble

Sometimes, it’s hard to stay humble. You might feel like you want others to see how great you are. Or, you might be scared that if you don’t talk about your achievements, no one will notice them. But remember, true humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.

The Rewards of Humility

When you’re humble, you open yourself up to a world of learning and new friendships. People trust and respect you more. You feel good about yourself not because you’re better than anyone else, but because you know you’re doing your best to be a good person. And in the end, that’s what really matters.

Humility is a powerful quality. It might seem simple, but it can change the way you see the world and how the world sees you. It’s not about hiding your talents or achievements; it’s about being kind, respectful, and always ready to learn something new. Remember, no matter how much you know, there’s always more to learn, and no one person is the best at everything. That’s the heart of humility.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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How To Be Humble (With Examples)

How To Be Humble (With Examples)

We receive a lot of conflicting messages about humility. We are told that humility is a virtue and warned against becoming too self-absorbed or arrogant. But at the same time, we’re often told about the importance of building confidence . If being humble and confident seems like a contradiction, it might be because humility is a highly misunderstood characteristic.

This article will review the true meaning of humility as well as give tips and examples of ways to show humility without seeming insecure.

What is humility?

How to be humble, examples of being humble, why is being humble important.

Despite the many misconceptions about humility, it is possible to be both humble and confident at the same time. Humility is often confused with having low self-esteem, but this isn’t true. Being humble doesn’t mean having a negative opinion of yourself—it means having an accurate opinion of yourself. [ 1 ][ 2 ] An accurate opinion of yourself is one that includes awareness and acceptance of your strengths , as well as your flaws. [ 1 ]

An ocean view with a quote by Rick Warren, the author of "A Purpose Driven Life": “Humility doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself. It means thinking of yourself less.”

Humble people tend to have a very good sense of who they are and what they’re good at. They are often confident and self-assured. Their self-esteem isn’t easily threatened by the accomplishments or strengths of other people, so they don’t feel the need to compete, brag, or compare themselves to others. [ 3 ] Instead, they are able to focus more on other people than themselves, which is a key part of most acts of humility. [ 1 ][ 2 ]

Developing humility requires a shift in both your attitude and your actions. Changing your attitude involves adjusting the way you think and feel about others.

Being less judgmental, more open-minded, and more self-aware are all steps in this process. Changing your actions involves things you can do differently to be more humble and modest when interacting with other people. These include listening more, talking less about yourself, and asking for feedback. [ 4 ]

Below are 10 ways to develop a more humble attitude and be more humble and down to earth with others.

1. Recognize your strengths and limitations

Understanding what you’re good at and what you’re not is the first step to developing humility. This always involves an honest and accurate understanding of your strengths and limitations. [ 1 ][ 2 ][ 4 ]

Start this process by conducting an honest assessment of your strengths and limitations. Self-reflection is one way to recognize your strengths and limitations, but it’s also a good idea to get a more objective viewpoint. Consider taking a strengths assessment , reviewing past successes and failures, or considering the input from other people.

2. Listen more than you talk

Humble people know not to make every conversation about themselves, which is why becoming a better listener is an important step to cultivate humility. Showing humility involves listening a lot more than you talk, as well as not always talking about yourself. [ 4 ]

Becoming a better listener takes practice. You can begin by pausing, asking more questions, and showing genuine interest in other people. These strategies help you shift away from a self-focus to an other-focus, which is one of the key characteristics of humility. [ 2 ][ 3 ]

2. Seek and accept both good and bad feedback

Honest feedback from others can help you become more self-aware, and even getting negative feedback provides a chance to practice being humble. Asking for feedback from people you trust to tell you the truth helps to maintain an accurate understanding of what you’re doing well and what you need to improve on. [ 4 ]

When you receive critical or negative feedback, resist the urge to become defensive. For example, don’t argue, give excuses, or attack the other person. Instead, thank them for their honesty and, when necessary, offer a sincere apology. Also, try to use their input to self-reflect on things you can do differently to improve.

3. Keep your mind open to new ideas

An arrogant person believes they’re always right or already know the answer to every question, but someone who’s humble keeps an open mind. To foster humility, be willing to hear out ideas, beliefs, and opinions that differ from your own, and avoid passing judgment on them . [ 3 ] Listen with an open and curious mind. Try to understand what is being said instead of focusing on being right.

When you get new information, use it to revisit your existing beliefs and opinions. Being open-minded and curious is a great way to approach conversations with people who hold different views. It can also help expand your knowledge and strengthen your beliefs by exposing them to new ideas, questions, and views.

4. Own your mistakes and offer sincere apologies

An important part of being humble is being able to admit to yourself and others when you’re wrong or when you’ve made a mistake. Being accountable for your words and actions shows integrity and will earn you the trust and respect of others. Being able to say when you messed up goes a long way towards recovering from a mistake.

Adding a sincere apology is the next key component to being humble. An apology is needed when you’ve made a mistake or one something to offend or hurt someone else. Avoid including excuses, explanations, or an “I’m sorry but…” because your apology may come across as insincere and ineffective.

5. Reveal your faults when appropriate

A humble person doesn’t feel the need to always try to mask or hide their flaws and faults from others. Being humble means being able to let some of your imperfections show and sometimes even openly admitting or talking about them. [ 4 ] No one is good at everything, so revealing your own shortcomings can even lessen the pressure others feel to strive for perfection.

Avoid self-deprecating statements like, “I really suck at …” or “I’m terrible at…” because these can make others feel pressured to praise or console you. Instead, try saying something like, “I really struggle with…” or, “This isn’t my area of expertise.” These are more effective ways to reveal shortcomings that don’t make others feel uncomfortable.

6. Help others shine and celebrate their successes

Humility can involve highlighting and celebrating the talents, strengths, and achievements of other people. People who appear arrogant may be quick to minimize the successes of other people or highlight their own, often because they’re insecure.

Humble and confident people don’t have these same insecurities, which allows them to be truly happy for others when they succeed, instead of feeling threatened by them. Helping others shine by giving shoutouts to people at work, commenting on their strengths, or organizing a celebration for someone are all great ways to foster relationships and humility at the same time.

7. Let your talents speak for themselves

Humble people don’t feel the need to brag about the things they’re good at or what they’ve been able to achieve. In fact, they may rarely mention themselves or their achievements in conversation because they know their hard work will speak for itself.

Break the bad habit of bragging by not talking about yourself or what you’ve accomplished as much. You can still feel proud of your accomplishments, but broadcasting your pride can be a major turn-off, leaving a bad impression on others.

8. Show appreciation for others

Showing appreciation and giving thanks to others is one of the best ways to show humility because it puts a positive focus on others. Humble people tend to be better at showing appreciation for others, which may explain why they tend to have closer, stronger relationships with others. [ 2 ]

Showing appreciation for people can be as simple as saying “Thank you” or “I really appreciated that you…” to a person who has helped you out or worked hard. If you’re a leader at work, giving shoutouts or bonuses to employees who have gone above and beyond are great ways to show appreciation.

9. Admit what you don’t know

Humble people are able to admit the things they don’t know instead of pretending to be the expert on everything. Admitting the limits of your knowledge and expertise is an important way to stay humble at work and also ensures you’re assigned projects that are a good match for your skills.

Admitting what you don’t know can also help you in relationships with friends, family, and significant others as well. For example, saying that you have “no idea how that must have felt” or “can’t imagine what that was like” to a loved one is a great way to support someone who opens up to you. For them, this response feels much more supportive than assuming you know how they feel.

Having examples of being humble can make it easier for people to know ways to show humility. It’s important for people to understand that you can still be confident and assertive while also being humble. In fact, the right displays of humility can help you demonstrate confidence without being rude , cocky, or arrogant.

Here are some examples of showing humility:

Example 1: Humble ways to respond to criticism

Getting negative feedback can be difficult and uncomfortable, and it’s hard for people not to get defensive. This is especially true if you’re a person who takes a lot of pride in your work and tries really hard to do things well. Still, being humble is the best way to respond to negative or critical feedback. Here are some examples of humble ways to respond to negative feedback at a job:

  • Validate their concerns: One way to humbly accept criticism is to say something like, “I completely understand your concerns” or, “I totally get how it could have come across that way” to prove you hear and understand their concerns.
  • Offer a sincere apology: It’s sometimes necessary to offer an apology, especially if you made a mistake, offended someone, or overlooked something important. When this has happened, try saying something like, “I’m so sorry that I didn’t consider that,” “I feel terribly about how this affected you,” or just, “I messed up, and I’m really sorry,”
  • Commit to improvement : Another way to accept critical feedback humbly is to say something like, “I appreciate this feedback and will use it to do better” or “I really want to make things right and would appreciate any advice you have on how to start.” These are ways to show that you not only accept their feedback but will also use it to make changes and improvements.

Example 2: Humble ways to respond to praise

One of the hardest times to be humble is when you’re getting praised or recognized for your achievements or hard work. While it’s important to acknowledge your achievements and appreciate the recognition you receive for them, it’s also important to be humble in these moments. Here are some examples of ways to be humble when getting praised or recognized:

  • Share the spotlight: Share some of the credit and praise with others by saying something like, “This would not have been possible without your help” or, “You’ve been a huge support to me and are a big part of the reason I was able to pull this off.”
  • Express genuine Gratitude : Gratitude is a great way to show humility. Consider saying something like: “Thank you all so much for this,” or “It means so much that you have all come today to celebrate with me.”
  • Downplay excessive praise : When you’re getting high praises, one way to be humble is to downplay the praise by saying something like, “You’re too kind” or, “My contribution to this was minimal compared to others’, but thank you.”

Example 3: Humble ways to talk about your strengths

There are definitely times when it is appropriate and even expected to talk about yourself and highlight your strengths. For example, interviewing for a job or promotion will require some self-promotion on your part. In these situations, there are ways to talk about your strengths without coming off as arrogant. Here are ways to humbly highlight your strengths:

  • Reference real-life feedback from others: “I’ve received a lot of feedback from my colleagues that I am a good leader, and people often seek me out for support and advice.”
  • Tell the backstory of the strength: “I’ve invested a lot of my personal time and energy into expanding my knowledge of this topic, and because of this, I feel really confident that I could bring a lot to the table.”
  • Tie your strengths to your core values: “I’m always striving to learn and improve as a boss and leader, and one of the areas I’ve focused the most on is on cultivating the talents and skills of those on my team. I think I’ve gotten really good at recognizing people’s talents and helping them further develop them.”

Example 4: Humble ways to interact online

It can be hard to talk to people online , especially when you’re using apps or social media to make an impression, find friends or connect with people. Too often, people feel pressured to create an online version of themselves that’s perfectly crafted, sometimes even becoming unrecognizable to their real-life self. Humility is the key to avoiding these perfection traps and presenting an accurate, relatable, and humble version of yourself online.

Here are some keys on how to be humble online and on social media and dating or friend apps:

  • Use pictures that look like you: Avoid the annoying habit of constantly posting selfies or of using filters that always make you look “picture perfect.” Settle on a profile pic that actually looks like you.
  • Don’t use social media to prove you’re a good person: Don’t overuse “virtue signals” online to make others think you’re a good person (e.g., broadcasting your good deeds to your followers) and avoid comparing or competing with others online.
  • Present a realistic version of yourself online: Provide an honest and balanced view of yourself and the parts of your life you choose to share on apps and social media sites (e.g., don’t just list your amazing qualities or exaggerate to look good, and do include some of your shortcomings or struggles).
  • Don’t use it for the likes and follows: Use social media and dating and friend apps for their intended purpose. Use them to relate and connect with others, instead of relying on them to feel good about yourself, get attention, or boost your mood.

Example 5: Humble ways to make a good first impression

When you’re on a first date, a job interview, or hanging out for the first time with someone, it’s normal to want to make a good impression. This may cause you to boast, brag, or try too hard to form a good impression or get someone to like you. The problem is that these approaches normally backfire. Being more humble is actually the secret to attracting friends and being more likable. [ 1 ][ 2 ][ 3 ]

Here are some ways to use humility to make a good first impression:

  • Focus more on being kind than being cool : Being observant and considerate of others is more likely to leave a good impression than focusing on seeming cool. For example, if you’re on a first date and someone looks cold, offer them your jacket or ask if they want to move indoors.
  • Get them talking more about themselves: Showing interest in others is the key to making a good impression without making the conversation about yourself. Ask questions, show interest, and figure out what topics they enjoy discussing. Wait to talk about yourself until they ask you questions or invite you to share something about yourself.
  • Talk more about who you are and less about what you have or do : One common mistake that people make when they’re trying to make a good impression is to talk too much about what they do or have. For example, talking all about your job, your five cars, or your many degrees can come off as bragging. Also, it doesn’t tell the person much about who you are . To avoid this, focus conversations more on the things you’re interested in or care about and less on things you do or have.

Humility matters because it is a positive characteristic that people seek out in leaders, friends, and significant others. [ 5 ] A humble attitude can help you get ahead in all areas of life. It also makes it easier to build close relationships with people. Some of the proven benefits of being more humble include: [ 2 ][ 3 ]

  • Ups your appeal and helps you attract friends and romantic partners
  • Can help you become more approachable and less intimidating to others
  • Helps you stand out as a capable leader at work or in your career
  • Can motivate you to work towards personal growth and self-improvement
  • It can make people less defensive and more likely to open up
  • Can make it easier to forgive other people after conflicts or disagreements
  • Promotes better physical and emotional wellbeing and health
  • Protects relationships and helps to maintain a strong support network

Final thoughts

  • Tangney, J. P. (2000). Humility: Theoretical perspectives, empirical findings and directions for future research. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology , 19 (1), 70-82.
  • Van Tongeren, D. R., Davis, D. E., Hook, J. N., & Witvliet, C. vanOyen. (2019). Humility . Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28 (5), 463–468.
  • Chancellor, J., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2013). Humble beginnings: Current trends, state perspectives, and hallmarks of humility. Social and Personality Psychology Compass , 7 (11), 819-833.
  • Your Route To The Top: How To Be Humble. Management Today [serial online]. 2008:15.
  • Exline, J. J., & Geyer, A. L. (2004). Perceptions of humility: A preliminary study. Self and Identity , 3 (2), 95-114.

i am a humble person essay

Hailey Shafir is a licensed mental health counselor, licensed addiction specialist, and clinical supervisor working out of Raleigh, NC. She has a Masters in Counseling from NC State University, and has extensive professional experience in counseling, program development, and clinical supervision. Read more .

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i am a humble person essay

What Is Humility & Why Is It Important? (Incl. Examples)

Mother Theresa - Humility

Deriving from the word humus (earth), it appears to clash with our current valuation of self-worth and self-realization.

But humility has nothing to do with meekness or weakness. And neither does it mean being self-effacing or submissive. Humility is an attitude of spiritual modesty that comes from understanding our place in the larger order of things. It entails not taking our desires, successes, or failings too seriously.

In the past decade in particular, psychologists have rediscovered the importance of humility. They have established fascinating links between humility and our ability to learn and be effective leaders, and our readiness to engage in prosocial behavior.

Adopting a more humble mindset increases our overall psychological wellbeing and ensures our social functioning. Last but not least, humility is a perfect antidote to the self-fixated spirit of our age.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Strengths Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients realize your unique potential and create a life that feels energized and authentic.

This Article Contains:

The history of humility, what is humility in psychology, humility as a character strength, why is humility important, 5 real-life examples, how to practice humility.

  • 5 Exercises for Fostering Humility

4 Tips for Raising a Humble Kid

Techniques for humble leadership and workplace, the importance of humility in relationships.

  • 2 Books on the Topic

A Take-Home Message

Humility is a core value in many ancient ethical and theological frameworks. The Confucian form of humility, for example, is profoundly other oriented in spirit, consistently valuing the social good over the satisfaction of our individual aspirations. In this ancient Chinese form, humility can significantly enhance social cohesion and our sense of belonging.

The Greek philosopher Socrates held that wisdom is, above all, knowing what we don’t know. He taught an intellectual form of humility that freely acknowledges the gaps in our knowledge and that humbly seeks to address our blind spots.

Aristotle understood humility as a moral virtue, sandwiched between the vices of arrogance and moral weakness. Like Socrates, he believed that humility must include accurate self-knowledge and a generous acknowledgment of the qualities of others that avoids distortion and extremes.

An accurate understanding of our strengths and weaknesses is still a core feature of current definitions of humility.

Christian humility is linked to self-abnegation, shame, and sin and may therefore not be to everyone’s taste. However, the ancient theologians can still help us to avoid arrogance and pretentiousness. They remind us that we are members of a species that is far from perfect and urge us to be mindful of the limited role we each have to play in the fate of humanity as a whole.

Through the centuries, the importance of humility as a moral character virtue has faded. However, psychological studies of humility have surged in the last two decades (Worthington, Davis, & Hook, 2017). This renewed interest in humility is, in no small part, a counter-reaction to what the authors of The Narcissism Epidemic , Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell (2009), have described as our “ age of entitlement .”

Today, self-realization and enhancing our self-worth are our highest aspirations. Precisely because it provides an antidote to many worrying tendencies of our age, such as arrogance, greed, and self-centeredness (all of which also have devastating consequences for our democracies and our planet), humility is experiencing a much-needed revival.

What is Humility in psychology

Capturing our other-orientation, it is closely related to modesty and fairness, but also our interest in wealth and other signs of status and our inclination toward self-promotion. Crucially, it also involves seeing ourselves accurately – not thinking of ourselves more highly (or, for that matter, lowly) than is appropriate.

Worthington et al. (2017) understand humility as made up of three parts:

  • Accurate self-perception
  • Modest self-portrayal
  • Other-oriented relational stance

They note that the recent growth in humility-focused studies coincides with the rise of positive psychology and frustration with the limitations of purely individualistic virtues. Alongside compassion, forgiveness, altruism, gratitude, and empathy, humility belongs to “ a cluster of virtues that bind society together ” (Worthington et al., 2017).

Worthington et al. (2017) further divide humility into general humility and more specific kinds of humility. These include intellectual humility, relating to an openness about our views, beliefs, and opinions; and cultural humility, an ability to acknowledge and learn from the achievements of other cultures (Hazlett, 2012; Davis et al., 2015).

Other sub-types of humility are political and spiritual humility.

While other-orientedness is a core interpersonal feature of humility, Tangney (2009) has identified six intrapersonal aspects of humility:

  • A willingness to see ourselves truthfully
  • An accurate perception of our place in the world
  • An ability to acknowledge our mistakes and limitations
  • Low self-focus
  • An appreciation of the value of all things

Hill and Laney (2016), finally, understand humility as involving a quiet ego (see also Kesebir, 2014).

Choosing humility in a self-centered age – Quincy Mix

We can also understand humility as a character strength . As such, it is an essential component of moral character that is manifested in modesty, being empathetic, acknowledging and respecting others at a deeper level, and accurately understanding as well as owning our limitations (Harvey & Pauwels, 2004).

As a character strength, humility can be viewed as the opposite of pride, arrogance, and an inflated sense of our importance and talents. It is based on a fundamentally caring and compassionate attitude toward others.

Finally, we may also think of humility as a specific mindset. After all, it is a crucial aspect of what Carol Dweck (2006) has described as the “growth mindset.”

In Dweck’s framework, humility entails not just admitting our shortcomings, but actively seeking to overcome them. It is about a general readiness to learn best practices from others and learn from our failures (see also Syed, 2015).

Humility is, therefore, intricately related to learning and teachability – a way of being that embraces constant self-correction and self-improvement.

i am a humble person essay

A humble mindset has significant positive effects on our cognitive, interpersonal, and decision-making skills . Humility is directly related to our ability and willingness to learn. Humble people are better learners and problem solvers.

Humble students who are genuinely open to feedback often overtake their naturally more talented peers who think so highly of their own abilities that they reject all advice. Some studies have found that humility is more important as a predictive performance indicator than IQ (Owens, Johnson, & Mitchell, 2013; Krumrei-Manusco, Haggard, LaBouff, & Rowatt, 2019).

Humility in our leaders, moreover, fosters trust, engagement, creative strategic thinking, and generally boosts performance (Rego et al., 2017; Ou, Waldman, & Peterson, 2020; Cojuharenco & Karelaia, 2020). Humility is also related to a general increase in positive emotions. Moreover, humility fosters self-forgiveness (Onody et al., 2020).

Besides, there are indications that humility strengthens various social functions and bonds. As a consequence of experiencing less stress and fewer negative experiences with others, humility might be related not just to better mental health, but also better physical health (Worthington et al., 2017, p. 7).

Last but not least, a lack of cultural humility is associated with xenophobia, the fear and hatred of foreigners. Humility, by contrast, is associated with xenophilia, an attraction to foreign cultures.

Those of us who lack cultural humility are more prone to make assumptions about others, feel superior to them, and dramatically overvalue our knowledge and talents in comparison to others (Hook, Davis, Owen, Worthington, & Utsey, 2013; Barbarino & Stürmer, 2016).

A famous trio of truly humble people are Gandhi , Nelson Mandela , and Mother Teresa . All of them heroically dedicated their energies and time to serving their ideals and tirelessly working to improve the living conditions for other people.

Yet they remained modest and unpretentious about their astounding achievements and never tied them to their own personalities. They humbly served not their egos, but instead a greater external cause.

We can see many examples of personalities who lack humility by turning to the world of fiction and television. For instance, you might remember the spoiled and over-indulged Veruca Salt from the famous tale of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.

The child of affluent parents, Salt stands in stark contrast to the story’s protagonist, believing she is without fault and entitled to anything she wants. This lack of humility comes at a price when she is whisked away down a garbage chute that judges her to be a “bad egg.”

Another example is Joffrey Baratheon from Game of Thrones. The character of Joffrey is known for his narcissistic entitlement, vastly inflated sense of his talents, and desire to dominate–all traits negatively correlated with humility (Worthington et al., 2017, p. 7).

Joffrey shows little sympathy or concern for other characters throughout the story, including his own wife, Sansa, whom he treats with severe cruelty. It is little wonder audiences around the world celebrated when he was poisoned and died in Season 4, putting an end to his reign of tyranny.

how to practice humility

We need to begin by developing an accurate understanding of our strengths and weaknesses .

Then we must own our imperfections . When we do, we no longer have to waste our energy hiding them from others, but can instead seek to learn to live with them productively or even to overcome them.

Paradoxically, a stubbornly low opinion of ourselves is also in contradiction to a humble view of ourselves. Extremely low self-esteem , just as a narcissistic overvaluation of our talents, lacks accuracy. It is just an inverted form of self-obsession, another way of fixating on ourselves rather than directing our attention toward others.

Although we are the subject in our world, we must remember that we are an object in everybody else’s. We are not the center of the universe. This includes adjusting our perspective . Our woes and desires become ever more insignificant the more we step back from them and consider the bigger picture. Our time on this planet is limited. Our works and achievements are transient.

We are all parts of structures that are larger than ourselves – couples, families, communities, nations, the organizations for which we work, the human species. We should never forget the many teams of which we are a part – small and large. Sometimes, it is apt to privilege the needs of our teams over our individual desires.

We must stay curious and open to learning. We can learn from anyone and everything at all times. We can learn from friends and family, our children, and people who master specific skills.

We have much to learn from other cultures and our ancestors. We can learn precious lessons from animals and even plants.

Humor is a powerful tool. We can all benefit from laughing more about ourselves and our imperfections.

3 Exercises for Fostering Humility

Exercises that hone gratitude and appreciation can boost a humble state of mind. A great starting point is PositivePsychology.com’s Expressing Gratitude To Others worksheet. It invites us to value our important relationships with others. It encourages us to think about the people who have influenced us most positively in our lives, truly appreciate their contribution, and demonstrate our gratitude.

Another classic exercise is the Gratitude Journal exercise. This exercise asks us to write down the things and people that we are thankful for, which triggers reflection on them at the end of each day.

Gratitude Gifts  is an activity for children that aims to help them generate a more grateful mindset.

Finally, we have much to learn from the Romantics. They held nature in the highest esteem. They knew it as an awe-inspiring force, a manifestation of the sublime that reminds us of our relative insignificance in the greater scheme of things.

Nature has curative powers. It can put us back in our place. We can experience a powerfully self-importance-correcting sense of awe by looking out to sea, peering down the edges of dramatic cliffs, touching the ancient trunks of towering trees, and viewing waterfalls, fast-flowing rivers, and still, deep ponds.

We can feel humbled when we are reminded of the force of the elements – battered by strong winds, drenched by the heavens – or when we see zigzagging lightning light up the night sky.

teaching kids humility

Children learn by copying .

The most effective way to teach children humility is by modeling it ourselves. We can show them what humility looks like in action daily.

While seeking to foster healthy self-esteem, we should not over-inflate children’s sense of importance . And nor should we twist their view of their own talents. This is a very tricky balance to strike.

We can approximate this ideal by trying to praise effort over results and by fostering a growth mindset (Dweck, 2006). This includes honing children’s ability to learn from failure and teaching them to see failure as a natural part of any meaningful learning process.

We can show children other ways of seeing the world and thinking about things. Our best tools are books, films, and works of art. By exposing them to radically different world views and talking about the discrepancies they notice with an open mind, we can alert them to the fact that their way of viewing the world is not the only one. And nor is ours.

We, too, can learn much from children in turn and should tell them so when we do.

Finally, gratitude exercises work with children, too. We can, for starters, simply ask them to name one thing for which they have been particularly grateful today.

Jim Collins, in Good to Great (2001), has demonstrated that the most outstanding leaders are also the most humble. The best leaders combine professional will with personal humility. They are often “ self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy ” – always privileging the institutions they serve over their egos (Collins, 2001, p. 12).

These leaders believe in human development. They do not crave credit, nor do they constantly need to show how great they are or undermine others to feel powerful. They are instead relentlessly trying to improve and learn from their failures. By modeling humility, they create a humble working culture in their organizations.

Bradley Owens says that humble leaders are essentially self-transcendent. Humble leaders “ have successfully tempered or tamed the ego and embraced a leadership perspective that seeks to elevate everyone ” (Aten, 2019). They are teachable, eager to learn, willing to see themselves accurately, and able to praise those around them. They foster in their workforce hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism (Owens, Yam, Bednar, Mao, & Hart, 2019).

Humble leaders, moreover “ are more likely to see failure as just a part of the developmental process. Since humble leaders don’t try to keep up appearances or power postures, it is less distressing and thus easier to recover when things don’t go well ” (Aten, 2019).

humility in relationships

Worthington et al. (2017) define relational humility as our “ ability and capacity to prioritize the needs of the relationship. It requires being sympathetic to the other person in the relationship and seeking to consider his or her fundamental needs ,” as well as “ shaping our behavior to elevate the other person’s agenda .”

Humility in relationships can be transformational when we move beyond our selfish preferences and consider not just our partner’s wellbeing, but the wellbeing of the partnership. Relationship humility builds trust, commitment, and persistence (Worthington et al., 2017, p. 12).

2 Books On The Topic

Find two suggestions for in-deth reflection on the topic of humility.

The Handbook of Humility: Theory, Research, and Applications

Handbook of Humility

It features a very readable introduction and epilogue that provide a fine overview of the growing field of humility research and its main findings so far, as well as numerous chapters on specific features of and perspectives on humility.

Available on Amazon .

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Humility

The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Humility

It covers theories, ethics, psychology, and politics of humility, as well as humility in religious thought.

The ancient virtue of humility is experiencing a long-overdue revival. Not only has humility research proliferated in the past years, but there is a mounting body of evidence that demonstrates just how vital humility is for all of us. It is closely correlated with learning, outstanding leadership, various prosocial behaviors, and our ability to forge deeper bonds with others.

Humility has the potential to be a panacea for many of our most pressing political problems, as well as for global environmental challenges. Last but by no means least, humility is also merely a highly likable trait. We are much more attracted to those who are not self-centered, arrogant, pretentious, or greedy. These tendencies have become all too common in recent decades, but the tide is turning.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Strengths Exercises for free .

  • Alfano, M., Lynch, M. P., & Tanesini, A. (Eds.) (2020). The Routledge handbook of philosophy of humility . New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Aten, J. D. (2019, February 26) How humble leaders foster resilience: An interview with Dr. Bradley Owens on the value of humility. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-resilience/201902/how-humble-leaders-foster-resilience
  • Barbarino, M. L., & Stürmer, S. (2016). Different origins of xenophile and xenophobic orientations in human personality structure: A theoretical perspective and some preliminary findings. Journal of Social Issues , 72 , 432–449.
  • Cojuharenco, I., & Karelaia, N. (2020). When leaders ask questions: Can humility premiums buffer the effects of competence penalties? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , 156 , 113–134.
  • Collins, J. (2001).  Good to great: Why some companies make the leap—and others don’t. Random House Business.
  • Davis, D., Rice, K., McElroy-Heltzel, S., Deblaere, C., Choe, E., Van Tongeren, D., & Hook, J. (2015). Distinguishing intellectual humility and general humility. The Journal of Positive Psychology , 11 , 1–10.
  • Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset: Changing the way you think to fulfill your potential . London, UK: Robinson.
  • Harvey, J. H., & Pauwels, B. G. (2004). Modesty, humility, character strength, and positive psychology. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology , 23 , 620–623.
  • Hazlett, A. (2012). Higher-order epistemic attitudes and intellectual humility. Episteme , 9 , 205–223.
  • Hill, P., & Laney, E. K. (2016). Beyond self-interest: Humility and the quieted self, In K. W. Brown & M. R. Leary (Eds.) The Oxford handbook of hypo-egoic phenomena. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
  • Hook, J. N., Davis, D. E., Owen, J., Worthington, E. L., & Utsey, S. O. (2013). Cultural humility: Measuring openness to culturally diverse clients. Journal of Counseling Psychology , 60 (3), 353–366.
  • Kesebir, P. (2014). A quiet ego quiets death anxiety: Humility as an existential anxiety buffer. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 106 (4), 610–623.
  • Krumrei-Mancuso, E. J., Haggard, M. C., LaBouff, J. P., & Rowatt, W. C. (2019). Links between intellectual humility and acquiring knowledge. The Journal of Positive Psychology , 155–170.
  • Onody, A. P., Woodyatt, L., Wenzel, M., Cibich, M., Sheldon, A., & Cornish, M. A. (2020). Humility and its relationship to self-condemnation, defensiveness and self-forgiveness following interpersonal transgressions. Journal of Psychology and Theology , 48 (2), 118–130.
  • Ou, A. Y., Waldman, D. A., & Peterson, S. J. (2018). Do humble CEOs matter? An examination of CEO humility and firm outcomes. Journal of Management , 44 (3), 1147–1173.
  • Owens, B. P., Yam, K. C., Bednar, J. S., Mao, J., & Hart, D. W. (2019). The impact of leader moral humility on follower moral self-efficacy and behavior. The Journal of Applied Psychology , 104 (1), 146–163.
  • Owens B. P., Johnson, M. D., & Mitchell, T. R. (2013). Expressed humility in organizations: Implications for performance, teams, and leadership. Organization Science , 24 (5), 1517–1538.
  • Rego, A., Owens, B., Leal, S., Melo, A., Cunha, M., Gonçalves, L., & Ribeiro, P. (2017). How leader humility helps teams to be humbler, psychologically stronger, and more effective: A moderated mediation model. The Leadership Quarterly , 28 , 639–658.
  • Robson, D. (2020, June 1). Is this the secret of smart leadership?  BBC . Retrieved June 3, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200528-is-this-the-secret-of-smart-leadership
  • Syed, M. (2015). Black box thinking: Marginal gains and the secrets of high performance . London, UK: John Murray.
  • Tangney, J. P. (2009). Humility, In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder. (Eds.) Handbook of positive psychology ( pp. 411–419). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press,
  • Twenge, J. M., and Campbell, W. K. (2009). The narcissism epidemic: Living in the age of entitlement . New York and London: Atria.
  • Worthington, Jr., E., Davis, D., & Hook, J. (Eds.) (2017). Handbook of humility: Theory, research, and applications. New York, NY: Routledge.

Dr. Anna Schaffner

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What our readers think.

Ludwig Pisapia

Humility presumes that somethings are more important than self. This is absurd…nothing at all in the Universe is more important than self. Without self, there is no individual autonomy…that is…a so called humble person is attacking the core freedom implicit in the dignity and value of every individual person. Liberty, freedom and self directed human creativity is destroyed with the corrosive effects of the embrace of humility as a virtue.

Laura

I thought that this article was extremely insightful, well written, fair and balanced. I really believe that it is quite accurate. I enjoyed it very much. Interesting when you applied it to the day and age that we are living in. Regards, Laura

laszlo bagu

Medieval knights went to chapel before each crusade and epic battle. The Pope is required to spend time in ‘The Room of Tears’ before his 1st ever speech from the balcony. Why? Humility is a powerful natural asset that can always use some refining or a refresher course. Tell me about it. Before any epic journey or life change a little reacquaintance with humility is always a good idea. It lets you regain perspective. I intend to quit smoking after a 40-pack/year habit. That’s why I spend a lot of time scrounging around for cigarette butts to smoke instead of actually buying a pack. It’s gross, disgusting, and smelly, which was exactly what I needed to stay on track. Hopefully it will work.

Lawrence Trasciatti

Your claim about Christian humility is grossly unfair and unacceptable. It has nothing to do with shame or self~abnegation. Rejection of sin is a very healthy aspect of humility

Marolyne Nganyi

I have been blessed by this articel so much that I thank God, especially from Wendy above. I pray that God enables this virtue in me and my family.

Noria Alobaydi

Thank you very much, wish you all the best !

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23 Best Practices to Become More Humble

Last Updated: April 28, 2023 Fact Checked

Accepting Your Limitations

Appreciating others & what you have, rediscovering a sense of wonder.

This article was co-authored by Taylor Rochestie and by wikiHow staff writer, Ali Garbacz, B.A. . Taylor Rochestie is a Life Coach, Author, and Speaker. He is the best-selling author of A New 20/20 Vision: Cultivate Joy, Reprogram Your Mind, and Define Life Through an Authentic Lens. He shares his perspectives on the unpredictability of life and how to have an active vision for the future. His 14 years as a professional athlete have inspired him to help people set roadmaps for themselves to achieve their own goals. He is an eSpeaker Certified Virtual Presenter and has a degree in Communication & Media Studies from Washington State University. There are 15 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 2,113,701 times.

Humility is one of those things that you can never really have enough of. It can certainly be difficult to remain humble when you’re surrounded by people boasting and competing to be the best, but humility is a very unique virtue that can lead to better relationships and a more grounded worldview. We’ll walk you through what it means to be humble, and we’ll provide lots of examples of what true humility looks like.

Things You Should Know

  • Motivate yourself to become the best version of yourself by finding things that you can improve and reminding yourself that it’s okay if you’re not perfect.
  • Reflect on any mistakes you may have made and use them as learning experiences to help you grow.
  • Listen with interest to what others have to say and make an effort to hear a wide variety of opinions and worldviews.

Step 1 Admit that you're not the best at everything—or anything.

  • Even when you become the best at one thing, there’s always something new to learn and try out.
  • Recognizing your limitations doesn’t mean abandoning your dreams or giving up on learning new things. It simply means acknowledging that, as human beings, none of us are perfect and none of us can do everything by ourselves.

Step 2 Recognize your own faults.

  • As a practical exercise, try to catch yourself in the act of judging another person and think deeply to try and recognize your implicit biases.
  • When you find yourself judging another person, ask yourself, “Do I do that as well?” and “Why does this bother me so much?”
  • Once you’ve identified your flaws, work to correct them. For example, if you discover that you’re quick to form grudges, work on finding ways to forgive others in a healthy way.

Step 3 Don't be afraid to make mistakes.

  • For example, if you’re starting a new job, don’t stress yourself out about doing everything perfectly. Your boss and coworkers expect you to make a few mistakes at the beginning as you get used to the job.
  • Allowing yourself to make mistakes isn’t the same thing as purposefully being sloppy and careless. Your actions do still have consequences, but as long as you can show that you’re trying your best, your mistakes will often be forgiven.

Step 4 Take responsibility for your mistakes.

  • Just admitting your mistake by saying “I was wrong” is an incredibly humble gesture.
  • If your actions had a negative effect on others, sincerely listen to what they have to say and avoid getting defensive.
  • Admitting your mistakes will make people respect you more, whether they are your own children or your coworkers. After that, work together to find a solution to remedy the situation.

Step 5 Apologize...

  • Make eye contact when you apologize to show that you really care.
  • Don't be a repeat offender. After you’ve apologized, make an effort to fix your behavior so that the same mistake doesn’t occur again.

Step 6 Be open to receiving feedback.

  • If you’re starting a new hobby, such as art, music, or exercising, listen to your teacher and pay attention to their critiques. They’re not trying to put you down, but are just trying to make sure you keep improving until you’re at your best.

Step 7 Muster up the courage to admit that someone else might be right.

  • Instead of immediately jumping to your own defense and saying the other person is wrong, attempt to work through their thinking process and logic. This will help you better understand where they’re coming from.
  • For example, if you and a friend are arguing about voting for a certain political candidate, ask your friend to explain why they voted the way they did. Listen with an open mind and try to make sense of their logic.

Step 8 Don’t brag or boast about your achievements.

  • If someone asks if you ran a marathon, it's perfectly acceptable to say “Yes, I did” and accept their recognition. But after that, do your best to stay humble and not boast about it.

Step 9 Give credit to others where it’s due.

  • Take time to thank those who have helped you get to where you are today. Your parents, siblings, friends, and teachers—it’s partially thanks to them that you’ve become the person you are today.

Step 1 Accept other people’s differences and cherish what makes them unique.

  • Make an effort to talk to lots of different people and make more friends , whether it’s at work, school, or just outside in your community. Surround yourself with lots of people to learn about their individual experiences.
  • Being able to appreciate the talents and qualities of others can also help you recognize qualities that you want to improve or obtain yourself.

Step 2 Be considerate of other people’s situations during conversations.

  • For example, you and your friend may not agree on what is considered to be a “fulfilling” job, but this doesn’t mean that you should look down on the work they do.
  • Instead, talk to them openly about their job and ask questions to help yourself understand why they enjoy the work they do.

Step 3 Be kind...

  • Don’t boast about the volunteering you've done. It's great if you're proud of your work but remember that volunteering is not about you; it’s about the people you’ve helped.

Step 6 Allow others to go in front of you in line.

  • For a deeper compliment, tell someone how much you appreciate their loyalty as a friend, their honesty, or their own sense of humility.
  • If someone compliments you, thank them and acknowledge the compliment. After that, be sure to return the compliment. [15] X Research source

Step 8 Listen more, talk less.

  • Ask questions to show that you understand what the person is talking about. Don't just wait for the person to stop talking so that you can start talking.
  • Make eye contact, turn your body towards the person who’s talking, and show interested facial expressions to let them know that you’re paying attention.

Step 9 Stop comparing yourself to others.

  • Take a break from social media every once in a while. Seeing only the best parts of other people’s lives can possibly stir up some feelings of insecurity, so log off of Twitter and Instagram for a while and just focus on yourself.

Step 10 Be grateful...

  • Some things to be thankful for might include your friends, family, having a roof over your head, food to eat, clean water to drink, a source of income (even if it isn’t your dream job), and a good education.

Step 1 Be curious about the world and the people around you.

  • Don’t let other people’s judgment stop you from exploring your curiosities. Even though other people might find it strange that you’re so fixated on something, don’t let them stop you from finding answers and gaining more knowledge.

Step 2 Spend more time in nature.

  • These types of exercises are also great for relieving stress, strengthening patience and tolerance, and increasing self-awareness.
  • Yoga is all about being humble. After all, there’s really no need to brag about how you've hit a new pose in yoga. It's all about doing everything at your own pace.

Step 4 Spend time around children.

Ways to Sound Humble

i am a humble person essay

Expert Q&A

Wikihow video: how to be humble, video . by using this service, some information may be shared with youtube..

  • Having a healthy self-esteem isn’t the same as being prideful. Both come from a recognition of your own talents and qualities, but pride that leans toward arrogance is often rooted in insecurity about yourself. [20] X Research source Thanks Helpful 6 Not Helpful 0
  • Appreciate the talents and possessions you have instead of constantly wanting more. Thanks Helpful 5 Not Helpful 2
  • Ask questions when you don't know, when you know a little, and when you think you know it all. Thanks Helpful 7 Not Helpful 0

i am a humble person essay

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Be Confident

  • ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brainsnacks/201501/the-paradoxical-power-humility
  • ↑ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326423192_Humility_and_Emotional_Intelligence
  • ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201409/should-we-be-humble
  • ↑ https://hbr.org/tip/2019/02/when-you-make-a-mistake-be-quick-to-admit-it
  • ↑ https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201406/4-ways-make-better-apology
  • ↑ https://hbr.org/2014/05/the-best-leaders-are-humble-leaders
  • ↑ https://wisdomcenter.uchicago.edu/news/wisdom-news/how-do-you-know-if-youre-actually-humble
  • ↑ https://hbr.org/2001/01/level-5-leadership-the-triumph-of-humility-and-fierce-resolve-2
  • ↑ https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-humility-strengthens-your-relationship
  • ↑ https://philosophynow.org/issues/53/Socratic_Humility
  • ↑ https://www.fau.edu/thrive/students/thrive-thursdays/humble/index.php
  • ↑ https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-receive-a-compliment-2011-3
  • ↑ https://www.intellectualhumility.org/becoming-humble
  • ↑ https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/meditation/in-depth/meditation/art-20045858
  • ↑ https://www.griffith.edu.au/engage/professional-learning/content-centre/lessons-for-work-things-we-can-learn-from-kids-and-science

About This Article

Taylor Rochestie

A big part of being humble is recognizing your own limitations. It’s okay to feel proud of your strengths and accomplishments, but at the same time, try to be aware that there is always room to improve and grow. Acknowledge your faults and own up to it when you make a mistake. This doesn’t mean you have to beat yourself up over your mistakes. Instead, look at them as opportunities to learn and do better next time. At the same time, acknowledge the strengths, successes, and contributions of the people around you. Be considerate of others and give them credit for the things they do. When you accomplish something, take time to recognize anyone else who helped you achieve success. Be willing to seek help and advice from others. Even if you don’t necessarily agree with what they have to say, keep an open mind and let them know that you appreciate their perspective. You never know what you might learn from other people if you’re willing to listen. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How do you know if you’re actually humble, there are ways to figure out how aware you are of your own limitations—and to cultivate intellectual humility..

Psychologists have recently linked intellectual humility to a host of benefits : showing more persistence in the face of failure, holding less polarized beliefs and attitudes, and being received as warm and friendly by others. But what does it take to be intellectually humble—and how do you know if you already are?



The old joke about humility—that “it’s my greatest quality”—speaks to the difficulty in knowing how humble you actually are. It’s a paradox: If you’re walking around thinking you’re humbler than most people, then chances are good that you’re not.

For precisely that reason, a trait like humility presents special problems in measurement for scientists and lay people alike. Even so, there are ways for you to try to understand how intellectually humble you are—and to cultivate this quality within yourself.

The trouble with measuring humility

i am a humble person essay

Despite intellectual humility being the subject of intense scientific study in recent years, there remains debate among scientists on how best to measure it. That debate begins with a basic question: What is intellectual humility? 

Most scientists agree that being aware of your intellectual limitations and the fallibility of your beliefs is an important part of intellectual humility, but beyond that there isn’t a clear consensus. Some argue that intellectual humility ends there, while others suggest that things like how we view others’ ideas and how we express our beliefs are components of intellectual humility.

Most recently, a study published in the Journal of Personality Assessment reviewed the existing theories and measures of intellectual humility and proposed that there are two key dimensions: the  self-directed vs. other-directed dimension and the  internal vs. expressed dimension .


Both internal and expressed intellectual humility can concern either one’s own intellect and beliefs ( self-directed ) or those of others ( other-directed ), but internal intellectual humility is limited to an individual’s thoughts and opinions, whereas expressed intellectual humility captures how they act.

The differences between internal and external intellectual humility have important implications for how we detect humility in ourselves. While expressed intellectual humility, which consists of actions, can be detected by any observer, say a friend or a partner, your own internal humility is only accessible to one person: you!

Which means if you’re reading this article because you want to know if you are intellectually humble, you’re in a bit of a pickle. You could start by asking yourself one of the questions that researchers ask study participants: Do you “question your own opinions, positions, and viewpoints because they could be wrong?” But now you (and scientists who ask these questions) are faced with a problem: Are individuals really well-equipped to accurately assess their own intellectual humility?


The trouble is that humans are prone to many biases and blind spots that can make accurate self-assessment difficult. In fact, because we show a preference for positive emotions over negative ones, we are motivated to “self-enhance,” or view ourselves more favorably than we really are.

For example, decades of research on these kinds of biases demonstrate that individuals robustly and systematically rate themselves as higher than average on desirable traits like “intelligent” and “friendly” and lower than average on undesirable traits like “vain” and “dishonest.”

Unfortunately, there is no magic solution to this problem, and scientists themselves primarily use self-report questionnaires to assess intellectual humility. However, there is good news! Several measurement validation studies have shown that in spite of these biases, self-reports of intellectual humility are linked to patterns of behaviors and other attitudes that are consistent with the concept of intellectual humility. That doesn’t mean that individuals can perfectly assess their own intellectual humility, but it does suggest that self-reflection is informative. Just be sure to remain mindful of the human tendency to self-enhance!

Discovering your own intellectual humility

Here are four different types of intellectual humility to look for in yourself—and some tips on how you might cultivate each one.

Remember the paper , discussed above, that proposed two dimensions of intellectual humility: internal vs. external and self-directed vs. other-directed? Together, the authors suggest that these dimensions create four types of intellectual humility. You can use them as a framework for assessing your capacity to be intellectually humble.

Expanding Awareness of the Science of Intellectual Humility

Expanding Awareness of the Science of Intellectual Humility

This article is part of our three-year GGSC project to raise awareness about intellectual humility research and its implications.

1. Internal and self-directed intellectual humility. This one requires you to inquire, honestly, about yourself. For example, when you have an opinion, are you open to changing it? Do you ever think about whether the reasons you have for a certain belief might be wrong? Do you calibrate the strength of your beliefs to the strength of your evidence? As answers begin to come to mind, make sure to take a moment and examine them for any biased thinking. Did they stand up to the scrutiny or was there some self-enhancement baked into your intuitions?

For readers who want to improve this kind of intellectual humility, making a habit of awareness is a great first step. Try checking in on your beliefs and opinions periodically, especially those that are important to you. Pay attention to the strength of the evidence supporting those beliefs, whether you ever question them, and how open you are to changing your mind. Just the very act of checking in constitutes intellectual humility, but doing it will also help you recognize where you might be falling short.

2. Internal and other-directed intellectual humility. This type of internal intellectual humility concerns thoughts and awareness regarding others . Once again, you’ll have to do some self-reflection, and one common place to start is asking yourself whether you recognize the intellectual merit in opinions and beliefs that are different from your own.

Before answering, it’s important to acknowledge the breadth of this question. It might be easy to recognize the merit in a friend’s opinion about a new movie, but very difficult to see merit in why someone voted for a political candidate you dislike. In fact, research has shown that when we perceive a discussion as a disagreement or when we perceive our discussion partner as immoral, we are less likely to be intellectually humble.

Often, we jump to conclusions about other people and their beliefs, even with incomplete information. We tend to judge books by their proverbial covers. This is exactly where an intellectually humble individual will withhold strong judgments, precisely because evidence is limited as long as you haven’t “read” the book. For instance, hearing that someone voted for your least favorite political candidate might elicit a negative knee-jerk reaction. However, you may not know how they arrived at their decision or the quality of evidence that led them there. If you find yourself in this situation, be curious! Understand the entirety of the picture—both your side and theirs—before making a judgment.


At the end of the day, it’s possible that you still disagree with their voting choice—and that’s OK. This type of intellectually humility is not about changing your opinion to accommodate others; it’s about fairly evaluating others and their beliefs. 
 3. Expressed and self-directed intellectual humility. Expressed and self-directed intellectual humility captures whether you behave in a way that is consistent with internal intellectual humility about your own beliefs and attitudes. Some common examples of this kind of intellectual humility are actively searching for both confirmatory and disconfirmatory evidence and being willing to outwardly admit when you are wrong.

Now, you can of course begin by asking yourself how much you do these things, but for the expressed form of intellectual humility, you can also look to those around you to help determine how humble you are. Doing both, asking yourself and others, will likely give you a more accurate picture of how intellectually humble your actions really are.

Most people have at one point or another realized that they were wrong about something—but then couldn’t bring themselves to admit it. Boiled down, this is a disconnect between internal and external intellectual humility. Even armed with the knowledge that you were wrong, you put up a fight to “save face.” Although that response might feel instinctual, the research suggests that it’s those who are perceived as intellectually humble and admit being wrong who are viewed more favorably by their peers. So, when you are wrong, just admit it!

4. Expressed and other-directed intellectual humility. This kind of intellectual humility arises perhaps most frequently in the midst of conflict, and involves expressions of intellectual humility toward others’ beliefs and attitudes. When you and your spouse (or maybe a close friend) disagree, how do you approach their perspective? Are you willing to hear it out in good faith, or do you insist they must have it all wrong?

Even the best of us can get sucked into the latter, but it’s a textbook example of intellectual arrogance. This type of intellectual humility can also arise in the context of feedback. It’s easy to discount critical feedback on the grounds that you “know better.” However, in doing so not only are you suggesting that your ideas are superior to your critic’s, but you may also be missing out on valuable insights that lie in your blind spots.

This is the perfect type of intellectual humility to check in with those closest to you about. Ask them if they feel heard in conflict, if you convey yourself in a way that suggests you think your opinions are superior to theirs, and how you receive feedback. If the answer surprises you, that’s just one more reason to work on being intellectually humble.

Knowing how intellectually humble you are isn’t an easy task, and being intellectually humble itself isn’t any easier! At the heart of these difficulties lie human characteristics and biases that we all share: We self-enhance, we’re prone to defensiveness in disagreements, we judge books by their covers, and the list goes on. Yet, the science tells us that fostering these four aspects of intellectual humility can help you learn new things, improve your relationships, and create a less divided world.



If you’d like to dig deeper and take a science-based quiz assessing your intellectual humility, please visit our new Greater Good intellectual humility quiz !


Intellectual Humility Quiz

Intellectual Humility Quiz

Do you question your own beliefs and welcome different ways of thinking?

About the Author

{author}

Tyrone Sgambati

Tyrone Sgambati is a research associate at the Greater Good Science Center and a Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychology at UC Berkeley. His current research investigates the joint role of intellectual humility and social network diversity in combating polarization. Prior to coming to Cal, he obtained his Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan in 2019 with concentrations in philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science.

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i am a humble person essay

Learn How To Be A Humble Person For Your Self-Development

Shaina was known as a humble person. She was talented and excelled in studies, arts, and sports. But she wasn’t…

Learn How To Be A Humble Person For Your Self Development

Shaina was known as a humble person. She was talented and excelled in studies, arts, and sports. But she wasn’t arrogant and was always willing to teach others. People respected her for her talents, but even more so for her humility.

At the same time, people also knew Shaina was not someone to be trampled upon. She would stand up for himself when anyone took her kindness for granted.

Humility is often wrongly assumed to be accommodative, submissive, or spineless behavior. The truth is quite the opposite.

Humble people are well aware of themselves. They know their strengths and skills. They come across as confident and polite, yet firm in their beliefs and actions.

People with humility don’t feel the need to boast about the things they can do. They prefer to let their actions and accomplishments speak for themselves.

What is humility?

Author C.S. Lewis has said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

Humble people are not self-centered. They are usually capable of doing great things, but they don’t feel the need to show off their achievements. They know their strengths, which gives them a lot of confidence–but they are not arrogant about their abilities.

Humble people are usually not fond of self-praise or boastful behavior. They focus only on their goals and lack the desire to attain personal glory.

In today’s world, the common perception is that humble people don’t make it to the top. Aggression and dominance are often considered the right approaches to excel in any field, while humility is underrated.

Humility is an invisible quality. We may not even realize that someone is being humble unless we really stop to think about it.

However, if you think about two or three people at the top of your field who you admire, you will probably realize that they are humble in addition to being high-achievers. Their humility is the secret to their excellence.

As Russian author Leo Tolstoy said, “Perfection is impossible without humility. Why should I strive for perfection, if I am already good enough?”

It is the pursuit of perfection and not the praise of others that drives humble people. They are always striving to improve. This is why they are humble.

How to be humble?

Humility has several benefits. It helps you become more popular as people find you approachable and helpful. Your confidence improves as you are not worried or distracted, and you focus on your abilities.

Being humble is also known to influence your happiness directly. Humble people feel more at peace with themselves and their surroundings.

In case you have not experienced humility as a way of life so far, here are some things you can do to become more humble:

Get Reviews

A humble person is more socially-oriented than self-centered. Being humble means you not only evaluate yourself with honesty, but also always seek honest feedback from people who matter.

By getting other people’s reviews, humble people ensure that they are not misguided about their own abilities. It takes courage to ask others for feedback, and one must know how to handle constructive criticism. Humble people are able to do both.

Thus, humility not only makes you confident, down to earth and polite, but also inspires you to improve yourself constantly.

Overcome your own biases

One of the essential qualities of a humble person is the absence of any prejudice. You can’t be humble and discriminatory or prejudiced at the same time.

To be humble, you must stop thinking that your gender, class, caste, looks, educational background, or skin color make you special. You must learn to focus on your achievements. Being fair to people from different backgrounds and recognizing their abilities is the hallmark of a humble person.

Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela has said, “There is a universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status.”

Ask questions

Humility lies in never hesitating to seek guidance. Humble people are always up for self-improvement and are not afraid to ask questions. They understand that asking genuine questions is crucial to acquiring knowledge.

Let’s look at an example to understand the importance of humility. A global tech firm was having a crucial executive meeting where the CEO unveiled his plans to create an ambitious mobile app. After sharing his plans, he asked if anybody had questions but no one raised their hand. The plan was approved unanimously and a project timeline set.

However, there was no progress on the app development because the project manager had no clarity on its features because he did not ask questions. The project was eventually shelved.

Pay attention

Humble people are not self-centered. They observe and remember small things about those around them–their strengths, their habits, and preferences.

In a collaborative work environment, it is important to always be ready to listen and understand the other person, and ask only what needs to be asked.

You can practice paying attention to others in the workplace in two ways. First, listen carefully to others when they speak, and pay attention to their verbal as well as nonverbal cues. Second, read people carefully so you understand them better. Humble people invest time and energy in understanding others, which enables them to get along well with all kinds of people.

Be ready to fail

Mount Everest was not scaled in the first attempt. Similarly, If you are pursuing a great task then be ready to fail. You should learn to take the failures with a smile. It may hurt your pride to make mistakes, admit failure, and ask others for help. But you need to learn how to not take failures to heart. Failure is a great teacher, and humble people learn from their failures.

Reframe failure as a setback and carry on working towards your goal. This is the hallmark of a humble person.

Humility might come across as a sign of weakness to many, but it is actually one of the biggest strengths a person can have. A humble person is self-aware and always focused on doing the right thing.

Humility teaches you to improve and make a positive impact on the world. It also teaches you not to be arrogant and lose sight of your goals. In the words of hockey player Maxime Lagacé, “There is no need to show off when you know who you are.” This is exactly what a humble person knows.

Harappa Education’s courses help you improve your overall growth and inculcate humility in your life. The transformational Practicing Excellence course familiarizes you with the four parameters of excellence and will help you achieve your goals by inculcating the virtue of humility.

Explore blogs on topics such as humility and resilience in our Harappa Diaries section to continue on your path of self-development.

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Armin Zadeh, MD, Ph.D.

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Why Is It So Difficult, and Vital, to Be Humble?

The link between love and humility..

Posted April 11, 2021 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma

  • The demands of Western societies do not promote humility.
  • The key to our happiness is knowing and prioritizing what truly makes us happy.
  • Humility is associated with a larger appreciation of life, and love can't prevail without humility.

A call for humility is a core element of most major religions or spiritual teachings. In Matthew 18:4, Jesus says: “Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Similar sentiments can be found in Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other religions. Humility is also considered a virtue by many philosophers, even considered central by Immanuel Kant. Yet, we tend to spend most of our lives working to achieve the opposite of humility—we strive for recognition, exceptionalism, and elitism. We don’t want to be like others—we want to be above them.

Particularly in Western societies, there is a remarkable conflict between the call for humility by spiritual sources and the societal value system that rewards materialism , competitiveness, and prominence. General wisdom is that it’s harder to advance our career when we humbly stand back instead of promoting ourselves (“nice guys finish last”). Humility is frequently perceived as a weakness.

Armin Zadeh

The drive for power and influence is one of many human instincts which may be associated with some benefit to the species. It’s intuitive that more powerful individuals have more resources to attract mating partners and provide for offspring, i.e., fulfill the evolutionary mandate. Egotism and ambition may also lead to achievements among a group that may benefit others, e.g., invention or business. On the other hand, too much competitiveness may be alienating and can provoke conflicts that may be detrimental to the individual and the species. As with everything else, balance is the key to optimal thriving in life.

The Humble Have an Appreciation for Living The opposite of presumptuousness and egotism is humility, which has important benefits to the individual and society. Humility is associated with avoiding conflict, fostering reconciliation, acceptance, and peaceful coexistence. We generally perceive humility as a positive trait in people, even feel naturally drawn to humble individuals. Humility is also associated with personal happiness . Humble people generally have a great appreciation for living and for day-to-day experiences, they are often family- and relationship-oriented. The call for humility by spiritual leaders and philosophers is likely grounded in the observation that humility is associated with a larger appreciation of life, relationships, and god.

Armin Zadeh

A proposed mechanism of how a humble mind elicits these effects is by freeing our mind from the conflicts of desire. There is barely a moment in our lives when we are not confronted with some kind of yearning or need. Many of these fulfill basic functions and thus are necessary to sustain life, e.g., craving to eat, drink, rest, comfort, etc. They may temporarily preoccupy our minds but may otherwise not represent a major distraction.

In excess, however, desire can consume our minds and may blind us to the fortune of our existence. We all know individuals who seem obsessively driven by some form of craving, e.g., wealth, beauty, status, etc. Their mind tells them that these things will make them feel fulfilled, and they won’t rest until they achieve their goal. However, desire does not have to be driven by some lofty idea—any desire distracts our mind. In our busy lives, there’s barely a moment when we don’t feel there’s something we “should be” accomplishing. Many of these may be indeed necessary to support our lives—but many may not.

The Undistracted and Humble Mind The absence of desire is linked to contentment. Our mind is not distracted then and is free to be in the moment. An undistracted mind may allow us to notice the immense gift of life and appreciation of those around us. Above all, we may discover an appreciation of life—all life.

The irony of our intense curiosity of finding life on distant planets, most recently Mars, is that we are often dismissive, or oblivious, to the amazing life on earth while we hugely value even the smallest hint of life form elsewhere.

Humility and love are closely connected. A brazen-faced person typically is too engaged with himself or herself to appreciate the beauty in others and the world. Love requires humility. It is no coincidence that masters of love, e.g., Jesus or the Buddha, exemplified humility. Love and humility go hand in hand.

Armin Zadeh

Just as it takes effort to be an actively loving person, it is hard to practice humility. We must overcome some of our innate egotistic instincts (the inner “demons”) to remain humble. We need to overcome them incessantly, not just occasionally. Most difficult of all, we need to constantly battle the expectations of society and our environment. We may need to accept that humility may stand in the way of occupying prominent positions in business or administration. We may need to accept that we may not receive the desired recognition and admiration from others.

i am a humble person essay

Wisdom comes from recognizing what is good for us and in life (generally), independently of what society tells you. Humility may make it harder for us to compete in a capitalistic world—but it makes us and the world around us happier. Humility allows us to appreciate life and to fully engage in love.

Can we be humble and ambitious? Yes, we can, but only if we compromise on both ends. As with any compromise, we won’t reach our full potential on either goal as we try to balance them both. Yet, a compromise between humility and ambitiousness may be more feasible to accomplish for many of us. In the end, it’s our decision—it’s up to us to choose wisely.

Armin Zadeh, MD, Ph.D.

Armin Zadeh, MD, Ph.D., MPH, is a cardiologist, professor, and scientist at Johns Hopkins University and the author of The Forgotten Art of Love .

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Home / Essay Samples / Life / Humility / What is the Real Importance of Humility in the Life

What is the Real Importance of Humility in the Life

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