The greatest paradox of success is that people start to see you differently, but you must not start to see yourself differently. Because the moment you believe you’ve “made it,” you stop growing. The moment you think you’re above the process, the process reminds you just how small you really are. Remembering your beginnings isn’t sentimentality.
It’s a strategy for long-term survival. When you remember your first client, your first rejection, the first risk you took, you refocus. When you remember how many times you doubted yourself but kept going anyway, you regain your strength. When you remember the people who believed in you even when you had no results to show for it, you regain a sense of gratitude.
Remembering the people who helped us can prevent us from viewing later success as solely our own achievement. And so, as you move toward something bigger, stronger, and more visible, remember:
A person’s greatness is not measured by the height at which they stand, but by the way they treat those who are still at the beginning. And that is a test that lasts a lifetime.
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