Complacency

A secure feeling that things are fine the way they are and that there is no need to change.

Complacency is a friend of the status quo and an enemy of improvement. Complacent people see no need to learn and are content to replicate their current performance (ie behaviour). This is an especially tempting frame of mind when things are apparently successful. The problem is that nothing ever stands still for long and sooner or later the complacent performer is overtaken by events. When change exceeds the rate of learning, that spells trouble (see Resistance to change). When, on the other hand, learning exceeds the rate of change, we keep at least one step ahead. Continuous improvement involves learning from successes just as much as learning from failures. For more on the process of doing this, see Learning from experience and Self-development.