7 behaviors that show you’re a truly humble person

True humility is pretty hard to find nowadays.

We’ve all seen the videos of people filming themselves gifting large donations to homeless people and sharing it online.

While it’s a nice thing to do, it isn’t really a humble thing.

But there’s contentment in knowing you’re living life well and doing good things for others without shouting about it.

I think we all know what kind of behaviors are NOT considered humble (side eye to all those TikTokers).

But spotting truly humble behaviors in yourself isn’t always so easy to acknowledge.

If you’re not sure where you stand, keep reading to find out the top 7 behaviors that show you’re a truly humble person!

1) You don’t brag about your salary

If you’re truly humble, you’ll find no need whatsoever to brag about how much you earn every month.

You don’t have the information on your dating profile and you don’t mention it any chance you get when you meet someone new.

In fact, most of your friends and wider family don’t even know how much you earn.

There’s nothing wrong with talking about your salary, especially with your colleagues at similar levels to you (only your employer benefits from you keeping schtum).

But there’s a difference between talking about it and bragging about it.

You may mention it if you’re in conversation with a colleague or if someone asks about it (although there’s no obligation to share it just because someone asks).

But you wouldn’t shout about it, especially not to make yourself seem more superior.

2) You rarely talk about yourself

Talking about yourself is good and healthy with the right people.

Like sharing your feelings with a partner or letting trusted friends know what’s going on with your life.

But when you’re in conversation with most people, you probably talk about yourself infrequently.

Most people feel good when talking about themselves and want to be asked things.

So when you’re talking to someone, you may let them do most of the talking if you’re a truly humble person.

You may ask them about what’s going on with their lives and show genuine interest in the discussions that follow.

And this is because you don’t feel the need to share all the grand things you’ve been doing and all the good things going on in your life.

Instead, you’re quite happy to sit back and hear about others’ lives.

3) You subtly leave large tips

I always remember an ex-boyfriend of mine would make a big fuss whenever he left a big tip for the waiting staff.

He’d stick around until they came by and would personally hand it to them.

Which is okay for safety reasons, but that wasn’t all he did.

He’d also loudly announce, “There’s a 50 in there for you!” while looking around, impatiently waiting for the thank you’s to roll in, before leaving looking pretty chuffed with himself.

While there’s nothing particularly wrong with wanting to give someone a big tip and seeing their reaction, you’re probably more of a humble person if you don’t do this.

If you leave the tip, close the booklet, and simply walk away knowing you’ll make the waiting staff smile when they see it, you’re definitely much humbler than my ex-boyfriend ever was!

4) You let others mention good things about you (rather than calling them out yourself)

Another sign you’re a pretty humble person is if you’re not always the one mentioning the good things you do for others.

This extends to anyone in your life, whether that’s your partner, friend, family member, or even a colleague.

When you’re a truly humble person, you don’t feel the need to get credit for all the wonderful things you do in life (as nice as it is).

Like by saying, “How nice was it that I took you to your favorite restaurant recently?”.

Or, “I loaded up the dishwasher today, did you notice? Aren’t I great?”.

Those may be pretty extreme examples, but you get the gist.

Instead, you’ll rarely mention the good things you do or have done for people.

If you’re truly humble, you’ll wait for people to notice what you do for them and to say themselves how nice it was of you to do.

5) You don’t tell many people about your successes

Telling your partner or your parents when you get a big promotion is a lovely (and healthy) thing to do.

It’s nice (and important) to celebrate your successes with your loved ones.

But if you’re a humble person, you probably don’t tell very many people about your successes.

When you’re at an extended family dinner party, you might not mention your recent big break in work.

Or when you’re at a college social, you might not announce the high “top of the class” grades you got on the latest paper.

If someone asks, you might tell them. But you won’t necessarily volunteer the information if you don’t have to.

6) You tone things down

You may not do this all the time to be considered humble.

But you’ll definitely tone things down sometimes, especially when you suspect your good news could make someone else feel bad.

Like if you’ve just purchased an expensive all-singing-all-dancing property, complete with a swimming pool, a 700-square feet kitchen, a basketball court, and a triple garage.

You won’t exactly share these details with strangers or friends.

Especially if said people live in a condo or are struggling with their cheap rental.

Instead, you’ll tone it down and say that you’ve bought a new home that you’re excited to move into. And that’ll pretty much be it.

7) You often say, “I prefer not to say”

If you’re a truly humble person, you probably don’t always answer people’s questions about your life.

Humility is often associated with being a private person.

Not because you have a problem opening up or being vulnerable.

But just because your private life is your private life, and you don’t always want to share the details with everyone.

If you’re very, very happy in life, you may not want to answer certain questions about your career, relationship, family dynamics, or assets you own.

Instead, you may find yourself quite frequently saying, “I prefer not to say” or “I’d rather not answer that question”.

Final thoughts

Humility is a wonderful trait to have.

Selfishly, being humble feels good. So if you recognize these behaviors in yourself, let yourself feel good about it for a while.

Just remember to never let your humility stop you from progressing in life.

This is particularly important when it comes to your career.

Sometimes, to be seen, respected, and valued for the contributions you make, you have to actually make said contributions common knowledge.

Otherwise, how else will your boss know you did something good? And how else will you get that promotion (that you subsequently won’t brag about!)?

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Tina Fey

I'm Tina Fey, the founder of the blog Love Connection. I've extremely passionate about sharing relationship advice. I've studied psychology and have my Masters in marital, family, and relationship counseling. I hope with all my heart to help you improve your relationships, and I hope that even if one thing I write helps you, it means more to me than just about anything else in the world. Check out my blog Love Connection, and if you want to get in touch with me, hit me up on Twitter

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