For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a hero. Not the one in Cinema. But a real life hero. Whom everyone loves. Who, as shown in movies, fights for good. Saves the world. Who is talented and often without flaws. 

When I started working, I worked like a hero. Someone who has a persona. Someone who has to please the world. Someone who has his set of principles and can’t break them for anyone else. Someone who’s self love is bigger than any other objective around.

Sadly, it never worked out. I realized that I was thinking too much about myself, making me larger than my company, team, work. But the work wasn’t about me. The work was just work. What needs to be done has to be done. Irrespective of how the hero feels.

Secondly I wasn’t delegating or collaborating effectively. Remember in movies, the hero is always shown as single-handedly turning the course? How we worship our sports icon in team games. The idea is always imposed in our head, that to be remembered you have to do things yourself. The work has to have your name all over. But in real life this scenario leads to exhaustion. First the hero burns out, then he feels that his team has wronged him. In reality, the hero fallacy leads to weak collaboration. 

What my life has taught me so far is, not being a hero is counter-intuitive and exactly what we need to grow. With the clarity that you can’t control everything around you, you take steps to minimize risks. That way your ego can’t blind-sight you into identifying problems. And your indifference to appreciation, doesn’t hold you back from delegating work. Not being a hero helps you trust your colleagues. And with trust in place, everything just happens sort of automatically.

To conclude my learning: Don’t strive to be a hero. Instead, focus on what needs to be done. Heroic acts will happen automatically.