"In his new book, Ryan Holiday attacks the greatest obstacle to mastery and true success in life--our insatiable ego. In an inspiring yet practical way, he teaches us how to manage and tame this beast within us so that we can focus on what really matters--producing the best work possible.
Ego is the Enemy
"While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive, visionary geniuses who remade the world in their image with sheer,almost irrational force, I've found that if you go looking you'll find that history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition." (all quotes by Ryan Holiday unless otherwise noted)
I'm going out camping with the family for a couple days (and it's my 35th birthday today :-)
While I'm out, I will be going through the book: Ego is The Enemy with a fine tooth comb. When I get back I should be able to write a nice "book report" for myself and any readers out there who are interested. Right now, I am at the beginning of a new phase in my journey, and I'll need the lessons in this book for any measure of success that I wish to attain in coming years.
For this morning I only have time to share highlights from the Introduction.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself--and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard Feynman
"Perhaps you've always thought of yourself as a pretty balanced person. But for people with ambitions, talents, drives, and potential to fulfill, ego comes with the territory. Precisely what makes us so promising as thinkers, doers, creatives, and entrepreneurs,what drives us to the top of those fields, makes us vulnerable to this darker side of the psyche".
Ryan explains that we aren't talking about the Ego in the Fruedian sense.
"The ego we see most commonly goes by a more casual definition: an unhealthy belief in our own importance. Arrogance. Self-centered ambition. That's the definition this book will use. It's that petulant child inside every person, the one that chooses getting his or her way over anything or anyone else. The need to be better than, more than, recognized for, far past any reasonable utility--that's ego. It's the sense of superiority and certainty that exceeds the bounds of confidence and talent."
"ego is the enemy of what you want and of what you have: Of mastering a craft. Of real creative insight. Of working well with others. Of building loyalty and support. Of longevity. Of repeating and retaining your success. It repulses advantages and opportunities. It's a magnet for enemies and errors. It is Scylla and Charybdis"
Ryan gives us 3 stages of Ego: Aspiration, Success, Failure.
By these stages, he organizes the book into 3 sections.
When I get back from camping I should have enough to write out a decent post about it.
"This book you hold in your hands is written around one optimistic assumption: Your ego is not some power you're forced to satiate at every turn. It can be managed. It can be directed.
"When we remove ego, we're left with what is real. What replaces ego is humility, yes--but rock-hard humility and confidence. Whereas ego is artificial, this type of confidence can hold weight. Ego is stolen. Confidence is earned." - Ryan Holiday