Your arrogance will be your downfall

Have you ever wondered why arrogance and ego often cause the downfall of people who are full of it? It's true that nobody likes an arrogant person, but why? What make arrogance so repulsive?

Let's begin with what it is;

Arrogance is an attitude characterized by a sense of superiority, self importance and excessive belief in one’s own abilities or qualities.

Right off the bat, you already see why this is a problem for others. We are social creatures and even though we have well-defined hierarchies in our various communities, every person’s contribution is well recognized and appreciated. What makes an arrogant person so repulsive is the fact that they belittle everybody else while glorifying their own selves, and it's no surprise that others won’t like that at all.

Ego on the other hand refers to

the sense of self or identity that individuals have, its their perception of themselves in relation to others.

Definitely we all have an ego, and it's a healthy thing which is very necessary for our self-confidence and self-worth. The issue arises because a person might have an inflated or overly dominant ego which leads him to egotism or egocentrism, which are strong desires for recognition, validation, and sometimes control at the expense of others. We can all compare ourselves to each other, and we all have strengths and weaknesses which define us. A person isn’t necessarily better than another, but rather better at doing certain things.

The problem with people who have an inflated ego is that they think of themselves as being better than everybody else, which is problematic in a society where each contribution is important.

In both personal and professional milieus, arrogance can be destructive because it is capable of undermining relationship, hindering progress and ultimately leading to a person’s demise.

While it's important to have self-confidence and a sense of your self-worth, if you don’t keep your arrogance in check it might blind you from your own limitations, it could alienate others from you and sabotage your own success.

When you value yourself accurately, you won’t be looked at as being arrogant, the problem comes when you think of yourself as being more valuable than you actually are or as the others perceive you. For example, when a person has a mastery of a subject and speaks with confidence about that subject, they aren’t looked at as being arrogant but rather knowledgeable. Now, when a person who has little mastery of a subject tries to speak with confidence about that subject, they are looked at as being arrogant.

Knowing yourself worth is very essential, not just based on your personal assessment but also on the public perception to avoid being looked at as being arrogant.

The Nature of Arrogance

It isn’t just a personality trait, but it's also a mindset characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, a lack of empathy for others and a tendency to belittle or dismiss opposing opinions. The issue with arrogant people is that they overestimate their own abilities, underestimate the contributions of others, and resist feedback or criticism. As you might guess, this mindset not only damages relationships but also hampers personal and professional growth by fostering complacency and resistance to change.

The problem with arrogance

It would have been okay if this was just a casual feeling which popped up from time to time and was quickly suppressed, but unfortunately it's quite the contrary. Arrogance is a very volatile feeling which corrupts every single aspect of a person’s life. Whether it's in the way they act, talk, think or socialize with others, arrogance can be felt everywhere. This feeling is very potent and always seeks to belittle everyone it comes into contact with, even when there is no reason for doing so.

An arrogant person will try to belittle what others know, they way they speak, they way they act and every possible aspect of their lives. Even worse, they do so with people who are objectively even better than they are. Your arrogance always leads you into a false belief that you are stronger and better than everybody else and unfortunately this feeling radiates through your body and it can be felt by others as well.

As you can imagine, nobody likes to be belittled especially without any reason, it gets even more complicated when the persons who are belittled are actually very competent. Imagine for a second that someone barges into a room full of doctors and tries to tell them what they need to do despite not having any medical training whatsoever. You can imagine that those doctors who had to go to school for close to a decade won’t take that arrogance lightly. This puts them directly at odds with such a person and makes collaboration nearly impossible.

Conclusion

Arrogance is destructive when it's not kept in check, learn to cultivate a spirit of humility, self-awareness, and a growth mindset to avoid the pitfalls of arrogance. Respect for one another and a willingness to learn from our mistakes is vital for our own personal growth and for collaboration with one another. Don’t forget that we are social creatures, and we need to work with one another in order to grow personally and also collectively.