Don't be complacent, keep growing

Complacency is a dangerous adversary, it's not in-your-face and yet very destructive. History is replete with instances of powerful companies becoming insolvent and successful dynamic individuals biting the dust simply because they were complacent in their success. Successful entities have to make a conscious effort to view their success in perspective. It's important never to forget the struggle that led to that success. Create new frontiers - there is no end to improvement and expansion.

When a person begins his/her career, then he is filled with a desire to make a mark, to grow through the ranks, accumulate wealth and gain recognition. Once all these goals have been achieved, it often happens that the person runs out of steam in terms of motivation and new goals. New goals can transcend personal desires and encompass the family, organisation and society as a whole. For an organisation, constant innovation is the only attribute that allows it to stay ahead of the competition. Being over cautious is as detrimental as being reckless. Remember the adages, 'He who hesitates is lost' and 'Look before you leap'.

They may seem contradictory but the secret is treading the middle ground. Complacency always leads to recklessness; a person is so confident of things falling into place and going off well that he/she does not evaluate and react appropriately to different situations. It's important to believe in yourself and supplement that with judicious thought and action. A useful tool to overcome complacency is to consider each situation from a desperate viewpoint. Think of how you would assess and respond to the situation if you had inadequate resources and were desperate to overcome the situation in your favour. There is no room for complacency in such a hypothetical situation and you will find yourself shrugging off complacency and acting with the urgency required.

What is maturity?

Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence or destruction. Maturity is patience. It is the willingness to pass up immediate pleasure in favor of the long-term gain.
Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or a situation in spite of heavy opposition and discouraging set-backs. Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and frustration, discomfort and defeat, without complaint or collapse. Maturity is humility. It is being big enough to say, "I was wrong." And, when right, the mature person need not
experience the satisfaction of saying, "I told you so."

Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it. The immature spend their lives exploring endless possibilities; then they do nothing.

Maturity means dependability, keeping one's word, coming through in a crisis. The immature are masters of the alibi. They are the confused and the disorganized. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business, and good intentions that somehow never materialize.

Maturity is the art of living in peace with that which we cannot change, the courage to change that which should be changed -- and the wisdom to know the difference.