– Don’t Let Victory Defeat You:
The Cost of Complacency –
“Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you.”
— Bane (The Dark Knight Rises)
The movie The Dark Night Rises begins with Batman (really Bruce Wayne) injured, looking bad, feeling old, and hiding from society in his mansion. He walks with a cane and is not the tough hero we remember. He is depressed, a sad remnant of who he used to be. As the movie goes on, Bruce senses that evil is afoot. He tries to resurrect the old Batman and thwart the plan only to face the reality that he no longer has the mental or physical strength to prevail. This time the challenge is too daunting and he is ill-prepared. His closest friends worry that he will be hurt and urge him to leave the fight, to leave Batman behind. These are sentiments that rarely touched the strong Batman of the past. His butler and best friend, Alfred goes as far as to say, “I’ve sewn you up, I’ve set your bones, but I won’t bury you. I’ve buried enough members of the Wayne family. . . . You see only one end to your journey. Leaving is all I have to make you understand, you’re not Batman anymore. You have to find another way.”
His past, the future, and present circumstances all eventually motivate Bruce to get his mojo back little by little. About halfway through this process, he is trapped and forced to fight Bane – the towering bad guy in the film. And Bane cuts an imposing figure. He looks to be about 6’4″ and 250 pounds of pure, diabolical muscle. In this bare-knuckle fight, Bane is having an easy time winning the physical and mental battle. This iteration of Batman is just too weak. Between punches, Bane says, “Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you.”
That is an amazingly powerful point that reaches far beyond this great movie. The idea is that you can become successful in life to the point where you stop fighting, stop training and, eventually, begin to forget how hard it was to get there. You become complacent and eventually unable to fight the future battles that will surely come your way. The definition of the word complacent really puts the ugliness of this position in view: To be complacent is to have a smug satisfaction with your achievements. At its worst, synonyms for complacency are conceit, pomposity, and vanity. Over the long-term being complacent is obviously a losing proposition.
Application: How To Avoid Complacency
So, how do you avoid complacency?
- Stay Hungry – Never forget the drive and sacrifice it took to get you to the mountain top. Remember the late nights and the stressful moments when you hoped the next client would call, the deal would close, you’d get the job, or the money would arrive. Those were tough days that to which don’t want to return. So stay hungry to stay where you are in life. I don’t ever want to go back to the days where I was worried about paying the rent on time, or getting my car fixed, or buying Christmas presents. I know that one serious slip up in my career can end it all and put me back at step one or in another field altogether. Though I don’t let this reality cause me too much stress, I do use it to stay hungry. Never let the peace you have now cost you the edge that got you there in the first place.
Here are some concepts to ponder when it comes to staying hungry: remember / find your fuel – the purpose behind your goals and dreams / mix up your routines / set goals / raise your standards
- Stay Focused on Your Work – I have spent years and years reading books and articles about the Constitution. I have thought deeply about its meaning and followed the Supreme Court closely. It has been a labor of love as none of that is easy work. These are incredibly tough concepts to learn and other really smart people in the field. Getting good at this has helped me get a job and then become a better teacher, writer, and speaker and gain a comfortable life. What I have found from experience, however, is all it takes is a few months away from this material for my sharpness to fade, I start to forget things. I have to re-read cases. I am less able to answer questions in class. Complacency in the upkeep of knowledge is costly too.
Here are some concepts to ponder when it comes to staying focused on your work: engage / seek / create / understand / expand
- Stay On Your Toes – this is an idiom, a group of words that mean something different than they read. “Cross your fingers” and “fall on deaf ears” are other idioms. The point here is that when an athlete “stays on her toes,” she is ready to spring into action. She is not flat-footed and ready to be passed by her competitors. In fact, she is alert and focused. When you remain ready, it’s tough to fall into complacency. So stay on top of your expertise. Be ready to pivot when what you do starts to become less relevant or when a new generation does it better. Learn how to continuously improve and adapt to changing times.
Here are some concepts to ponder when it comes to staying ready for the next thing: adapt / be agile / pivot / prognosticate / change / improve / learn more / ask questions
- Recharge – this is critical. In fact, this is likely why you became complacent in the first place. You’ve said to yourself, “I’ve worked so hard and now it’s time to rest.” Or, “This ability to rest is why I worked so hard in the first place.” There is so much truth to these statements. I say the same thing to myself all the time. And the rest and relaxation piece of this is okay. Why work so hard if there is no reward. Just remember that you will want to re-engage at some point. Don’t make re-engaement tougher than it needs to be because your rest stole your edge. Don’t be Batman in a fight he can’t win. You never know when you’ll be asked to step up and fight for those you love. Be able to get up and do it.
Here are some concepts to ponder when it comes to resting for a time: recharge / think about what’s next / plug back in
The Bottom Line
I am big about passing on the secrets to life that I’ve discovered thinking about this stuff all day. This one is critical – resist the urge to let your successes make you weak. You should rarely, if ever, let your achievements lead to complacency. Take a serious rest after achieving your goals – by all means that’s important. But, in your rest, try to stay focused and in shape physically and mentally for the challenges to come. There will be more hurdles to jump in your life and you need to be ready. Don’t let peace cost you your strength. Don’t let victory defeat you. You can’t be Batman, but you can continue to make a difference in your life far past the point when you first became successful.
More soon,
Corey
- Check out COREYSPEAKS.COM for more on popular keynote speaker Corey Ciocchetti. Corey has keynotes on happiness, integrity, ethical leadership, ethical decision-making, morale, stress reduction, and professionalism. Corey has spoken in 44 states and over 250 cities since 2007.
- Check out Corey’s other cool ethics blog posts on LEADERSHIP and HAPPINESS – you won’t regret it.
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