Ego is the Enemy: The Fight to Master Our Greatest Opponent

by Ryan Holiday

What is rare is not raw talent, skill, or even confidence, but humility, diligence, and self-awareness.

We will learn that though we think big, we must act and live small in order to accomplish what we seek.

Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know. — LAO TZU

It’s a temptation that exists for everyone—for talk and hype to replace action.

Talk depletes us. Talking and doing fight for the same resources. Research shows that while goal visualization is important, after a certain point our mind begins to confuse it with actual progress. The same goes for verbalization.

A true student is like a sponge. Absorbing what goes on around him, filtering it, latching on to what he can hold. A student is self-critical and self-motivated, always trying to improve his understanding so that he can move on to the next topic, the next challenge. A real student is also his own teacher and his own critic. There is no room for ego there.

“It is impossible to learn that which one thinks one already knows,” Epictetus says. You can’t learn if you think you already know.

It’s far better when doing good work is sufficient. In other words, the less attached we are to outcomes the better. When fulfilling our own standards is what fills us with pride and self-respect. When the effort—not the results, good or bad—is enough.

It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. — MARCUS AURELIUS

Only ego thinks embarrassment or failure are more than what they are.

When we lose, we have a choice: Are we going to make this a lose-lose situation for ourselves and everyone involved? Or will it be a lose… and then win? Because you will lose in life. It’s a fact.

Take inventory for a second. What do you dislike? Whose name fills you with revulsion and rage? Now ask: Have these strong feelings really helped you accomplish anything? Take an even wider inventory. Where has hatred and rage ever really gotten anyone?

love is right there. Egoless, open, positive, vulnerable, peaceful, and productive.

“People learn from their failures. Seldom do they learn anything from success.”

“See much, study much, suffer much, that is the path to wisdom.”