I'm surprised this hasn't received more upvotes (considering the other stuff that regularly gets upvoted here).<p>The message may be obvious to some, or over the heads of others, but the post is about a principle that I find worthwhile holding. It pays to always keep an open mind and always believe you can do better. It's extremely easy to fall victim to praise.<p>Most of us are good at what we do, but we can always improve our skills.<p>Maybe it's just me. I spent a lot of my school years being told how clever I was. As the young me grew confident of this fact, the less effort I would be inclined to put into learning (at school). I pursued my own interests out of school, and taught myself the stuff I really wanted to learn (computers, programming). Still, when I was first unleashed upon the internet I had a completely inflated view of my skills. It wasn't until I got involved with an open-source project and worked with some really great people that I realised quite how far I had to go. Aptitude is not competence without effort.<p>This experience has given me the reflex nowadays to draw back from praise. I get it all the time and can't help but enjoy it of course, but I still remember the negative impact it can have if I listen to it too much.<p>Now perhaps my co-founder will read this and stop calling me awesome at last :)