{"id":55481,"date":"2022-01-02T08:35:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-02T12:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=55481"},"modified":"2022-01-11T10:32:52","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T14:32:52","slug":"being-self-reliant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/being-self-reliant\/","title":{"rendered":"Being Self-Reliant Is Not Necessarily a Good Thing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you the type of person who always tries to be the jack of all trades? Do you pride yourself on being self-reliant? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being self-reliant is generally a good trait to have but it has downsides. You will never be able to be proficient at all the things necessary to reach your goals<\/a>. Be humble about this, and look toward working with good people to fill in those gaps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is why being self-reliant is not always a good thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Extreme Self-Reliance Limits Your Success<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Being self-reliant is good to an extent. However, to accomplish your goals, you need to rely on other people. <\/strong>You need to be humble and recognize that you lack both the objectivity and the complete skill set to achieve all of your goals. Instead, other people will 1) help you see your blind spots, and 2) provide complementary skills to cover for your weaknesses. If you want to believe that happiness is working with great colleagues<\/a>, you’ll be willing to rely on others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other People See Your Blind Spots<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You will never be able to view yourself objectively most of the time. As we learned, often your ego<\/a> will get in the way and bias you. In other cases, you might simply be blind to certain aspects of yourself. Part of the idea of “happiness is working with great people” means that others can pick up where you miss things, and you can do the same for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should get others to be radically truthful with you so you can see the truth about yourself. <\/strong>As founder and CEO of Bridgewater, Dalio had complete authority to do things his way, yet he willingly built himself a management committee to oversee him. He knew that relying on others was the best way to arrive at the truth, and believes that at work, happiness is working with great colleagues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get the most out of other people\u2019s viewpoints, practice thoughtful disagreement<\/a>. This is an important part of the idea of “happiness is working with great people.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n