Achievement Pride Leads To Success

Achievement Pride Leads To Success

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pride

Fredric Neuman, M.D.

Fred Neuman, M.D. is the Director of the Anxiety and Phobia Treatment Center. After serving as Associate Director for 21 years, Dr. Neuman assumed the directorship in 1994. Educated at Princeton University and the NYU College of Medicine, Dr. Neuman specializes in the treatment of anxiety disorders. He is the author of the following books: Caring: Home Treatment for the Emotionally Disturbed, Fighting Fear: An Eight Week Guide to Treating Your Own Phobias, Worried Sick?: The Exaggerated Fear of Physical Illness, and Worried Sick? The Workbook. Dr. Neuman is also the author of numerous magazine and newspaper articles on the efficacy of Cognitive/Behavioral Therapy for the treatment of anxiety disorders. Dr. Neuman is a member of the American Psychiatric Society, The American Association for the Advancement of Science and the New York Academy of Science.

Dr. Neuman is also the author of the following novels:
"The Seclusion Room," Viking Press.
"Maneuvers" Dial Press
"Come One, Come All,"
"The Wicked Son," "Detroit Tom and His Gang"
"Superpowers."

All these books are available from Amazon.

What’s good and bad about pride

“Pride” is often used in different ways to describe different ways of feeling. Let me distinguish two different kinds of pride, one of which is motivating and satisfying, the other destructive and, sometimes, deadly.

Pride in Achievement

From the time we are children, pride in our achievements is encouraged by those around us. Teachers award silver and gold stars for good performance. Children are told to strive to do the very best they can; and special achievements are applauded and rewarded, whether they are in a classroom or on a playing field. Special skills and talents are noted. The effects of praise are to encourage self-confidence and self-respect.

In adulthood it is reasonable and appropriate to take pride in what one has achieved. In proportion to those achievements, the individual will feel competent and largely immune to criticism. A history of accomplishment will weigh convincingly against unjust criticism. Such a self-confident person will not worry about how others, particularly strangers, will regard him/her.

Pride in Appearance

I do not mean physical appearance, although physical appearance is one aspect of what I do mean. I mean the way that person is sensitive to the ways others think of him/her. Such a prideful person is always thinking about the way he or she appears to others. In a way it is opposite to pride in achievement in that those who feel truly successful are correspondingly less concerned about the regard of others.

Pride of this sort is manifested by a tendency to take offence readily. Sometimes offence is taken when no offense is intended. The most extreme examples come to our attention in newspaper reports. One man shoots another because he was “dissed” by the other cutting in front of him on a line in a movie theater. Other men become murderous because someone has ridiculed their religion. It is as if the way one is spoken of matters more than the way one conducts oneself. “Honor” killings are conducted within a family to maintain the reputation of that family. Slurs must be avenged in order to maintain self-respect.

Closer to home, there are many who feel inadequate or deficient in some way and who compensate by trying never to show signs of weakness or of failure. They present themselves as beyond reproach. “It is none of their business,” they say to justify never revealing information about themselves, even information which could not be construed as unflattering by anyone else. Because they do not report anything they might find embarrassing, they never learn that others would not look down on them for these “failings.”

It comes down to this: pride in achievement leads to success. Concern over reputation leads to resentment and, inevitably, a feeling of falling short. Whoever you are—however attractive you are or how talented—some people will look down on you. It is hopeless and a waste of time to try to impress them. (c) Fredric Neuman Author of “The Seclusion Room.”

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