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Old 03-17-2012, 11:48 PM   #16
Kevin Leavitt
 
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Dojo: Team Combat USA
Location: Olympia, Washington
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 4,376
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Re: humility or inferiority complex?

For me, every black belt (or brown in the case of BJJ) that I received I felt that I was not ready or did not deserve it. I tried to refuse my BJJ brown belt. My instructor told me that well it is not your choice, and if you don't feel you deserve it, then you better get busy working harder cause everyone is going to expect more from you.

So, I have never really had the luxury of sitting back and saying "damn I'm good!".

The responsibilities of wearing the belt certainly present and continue to present a challenge to me as a leader.

Same has gone for all my promotion in the Military over the last 27 years. While I certainly met the criteria for promotion, looking forward at what I was expected to do as a leader kept me on my toes.

I graduated from U.S. Army Ranger School in 1996, probably one of my greatest accomplishments personally in my life. I can tell you that there were many better men that did not make it than me. I remember standing there on the field thinking, wow, I am glad I made it, but I am no one special and I now have a huge responsibility to live up to the Ranger Creed for the rest of my life.

So for me, looking backwards at what you have accomplished is something to take pride in. But looking forward, at the responsibilities of what we must now support, tends to keep me in check.

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