“One of the keys to
greatness is understanding how it can be lost.” ~Jim Collins

1. They
work harder on their image than on their integrity.

Many of our first
instincts are to work on our image. But know that’s wrong! Instead, we need to
work on our character – because people can give us a reputation, but we’re the
only ones who can give ourselves character.

2. They
become arrogant.

Arrogance is easy to
rationalize, but difficult to recognize. That’s why it’s imperative to find
ways to check ourselves and to keep people around who will tell us what we
“need” to hear rather than what we “want” to hear.

3. They
make exceptions.

When we make an
exception “once,” it makes it all that much easier to do again and again and
again. Then, before we realize what’s taking place – behavior, which at one
point seemed completely unacceptable, begins to seem perfectly normal.

Jeremy