It's a journey ...
There were three maxims at the entrance to the Temple of Apollo, two of them are fairly well known – “Know Thyself”, and “Nothing to Excess”. But the third “Surety is Ruin” is less so.
What can we learn from this third maxim? I have talked about not focusing on “being less shit” but leaning into your strengths to get to GREAT. But when we lean into our strength, focusing on getting better and better, we can fall into the trap that as we know more and more and become more and more practiced that we get cocky and overconfident, sure in the knowledge that you’ve got this.
Remembering this final maxim from the Oracle at Delphi, we are warned that this overconfidence – surety – can lead to ruin.
But once we get past this ‘surety’, as we learn more and understand more, we recognise how much more there is to learn, how much more we don’t know.
The road towards excellence and perfection is never ending. Falling back in our ‘surety’ and overconfidence leads to stagnation and ruin.
So lean in, step up and walk the road to being GREAT knowing that it’s a lifetimes journey… that is the only ‘surety’ that you can count on.
