Ego Is the Enemy

by Ryan Holiday

“self-confidence becomes arrogance, assertiveness becomes obstinacy, and self-assurance becomes reckless abandon.”

Is that me?

No, instead, he becomes more and more arrogant, and some people, not knowing what is underneath such an attitude, mistake his arrogance for a sense of power and self-confidence.”

Could be me

“abhor flatterers as you would deceivers; for both, if trusted, injure those who trust them.”

Abhor flatterers

Research shows that while goal visualization is important, after a certain point our mind begins to confuse it with actual progress.

Lovely point. True? A liitle, yes

“To be or to do? Which way will you go?”

Good phrasing. question tho: CEO? She is a be-er or do-er? Munger did warn. Be assiduous. Max Planck vs chauffeur

There’s a quip from the historian Will Durant, that a nation is born stoic and dies epicurean.

Lovely phrasing

This is what the ego does. It crosses out what matters and replaces it with what doesn’t.

The most perfect sentence !!

If your purpose is something larger than you—to accomplish something, to prove something to yourself—then suddenly everything becomes both easier and more difficult. Easier in the sense that you know now what it is you need to do and what is important to you.

Purpose

“What is it that I want to accomplish in life?” Setting aside selfish interest, it asks: What calling does it serve? What principles govern my choices?

Love it

The power of being a student

L e a r n

plus, minus, and equal. Each fighter, to become great, he said, needs to have someone better that they can learn from, someone lesser who they can teach, and someone equal that they can challenge themselves against.

Good framework

“It is impossible to learn that which one thinks one already knows,”

Impossible to learn what one thinks they already know

It dislikes reality and prefers its own assessment.

Remember You are not this body mind or intellect. So corrections dont hurt You

The critical work that you want to do will require your deliberation and consideration. Not passion. Not naïveté.

Critical work requires consideration and deliberation

attach yourself to people and organizations who are already successful and subsume your identity into theirs and move both forward simultaneously.

The tried and true. he glamorizes because it reduces ego. maybe he's right

for Franklin saw the constant benefit in making other people look good and letting them take credit for your ideas.

Let others take credit of your ideas. in Hinduism: recognize it was not your idea anyway

ago, Plato spoke of the type of people who are guilty of “feasting on their own thoughts.”

Feasting on your own thoughts

Living clearly and presently takes courage. Don’t live in the haze of the abstract, live with the tangible and real, even if—especially if—it’s uncomfortable. Be part of what’s going on around you. Feast on it, adjust for it. There’s no one to perform for. There is just work to be done and lessons to be learned, in all that is around

Good advice

“I had a horror of the danger of arrogance. What a pitiful thing it is when a man lets a little temporary success spoil him, warp his judgment, and he forgets what he is!”

wisdom

“vain men never hear anything but praise.”

Good saying

“You can’t build a reputation on what you’re going to do,”

Lovely point

Without virtue and training, Aristotle observed, “it is hard to bear the results of good fortune suitably.”

Great observation

“as our island of knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.”

Brilliant

It’s remembering Socrates’ wisdom lay in the fact that he knew that he knew next to nothing.

How little you know

because they consistently observe and listen, the humble improve. They don’t assume, ‘I know the way.’”

Humble

No matter what you’ve done up to this point, you better still be a student.

Thats why munger read. why buffett reads. he knows a lot. And he knows he doesnt know a lot

Walsh was strong and confident enough to know that these standards would eventually contribute to victory. He was also humble enough to know that when victory would happen was not something he could predict.

Surrender to the Lord. excellence always brings out good results

More urgently, each one of us has a unique potential and purpose; that means that we’re the only ones who can evaluate and set the terms of our lives. Far too often, we look at other people and make their approval the standard we feel compelled to meet, and as a result, squander our very potential and purpose.

Purpose?

There is a balance. Soccer coach Tony Adams expresses it well. Play for the name on the front of the jersey, he says, and they’ll remember the name on the back.

Do for Him

As he says, “When I look up in the universe, I know I’m small, but I’m also big. I’m big because I’m connected to the universe and the universe is connected to me.” We just can’t forget which is bigger and which has been here longer.

Thd Self

“Men of great ambition have sought happiness . . . and have found fame.”

Well said