Ego is The Enemy

1 

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, your worst enemy already lives inside you: your ego.

 

2 

Ego – Self-centered ambition. That’s the definition this book will use.

 

5 

At any given time in life, people find themselves at one of three stages. We’re aspiring to something… We have achieved success… Or we have failed.

 

6 

help us be: Humble in our aspirations, Gracious in our success, Resilient in our failures.

 

15 

no adornment so becomes you as modesty, justice, and self-control. – Isocrates

 

16 

“Practice self-control,” he said, warning not to fall under the sway of temper, pleasure, and pain.

 

20 

For a generation, parents and teachers have focused on building up everyone’s self-esteem. This makes us weak.

 

21

the ability to evaluate one’s own ability is the most important skill of all.

 

26 

silence is strength

 

28 

work quietly in the corner. They turn their inner turmoil into product – eventually to stillness.

 

30 

His primary means of effecting change was through the collection of pupils he mentored, protected, taught, and inspired.

 

32 

Appearances are deceiving. Having authority vs being an authority. Having the right vs being right.

 

35 

Do I need this? Or is it really about ego?

 

38 

The power of being a student is not just that it is an extended period of instruction, it also places the ego and ambition in someone else’s hands.

 

39 

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.

 

40 

To become great and to stay great, they must all know what came before, what is going on now, and what comes next.

 

42 

books are cheaper than ever. Access to teachers is no longer a barrier. There is no excuse for not getting your education.

 

46 

“zealot” is just a nice way to say “crazy person.”

 

47 

We hear what we want to hear. We do what we feel like doing, we accomplish very little.

 

48 

Passion is seen in those who can tell you in great detail who they intend to become and what their success will be like.

 

49 

What humans require in our ascent is purpose and realism. Passion without boundaries, detachment and perspective.

 

50 

Passion is form over function. Purpose is function, function, function.

 

51 

Great men have almost always shown themselves as ready to obey as they afterwards proved able to command.

 

53 

You’re not nearly as good as you think you are. You have an attitude. Most of what you think you know is out of date or wrong.

 

55 

He learned how to be a rising start without threatening or alienating anyone.

 

56 

Be lesser, do more.

 

57 

To tell yourself that every second not spent doing your work, or working on yourself, is a waste of your gift.

 

58 

the person who clears the path ultimately controls its direction, jsut as the canvas shapes the painting.

 

62 

Our own path, whatever we aspire to, will in some ways be defined by the amount of nonsense we are willing to deal with.

 

63 

When you want to do something… you will be subjected to treatment ranging from indifference to outright sabotage.

 

64 

you’re not able to change the system until after you’ve made it.

 

69 

We tend to think that ego equals confidence… it can have the opposite effect.

 

72 

We have to rein our perceptions in.

 

74 

Christians believe that pride is a sin because it is a lie – it convinces people that they are better than they are.

 

77 

Received feedback, maintain hunger, and chart a proper course in life.

 

77 

Ask, when you feel pride: What am I missing right now that a more humble person might see?

 

82 

Fac, si facis. – Do it if you’re going to do it.

 

82 

Materiam superabat opus. – The workmanship was better than the material.

 

87 

I am going to be myself, the best version of that self. I am in this for the long game, no matter how brutal it might be. To do, not be.

 

98 

As success arrives, ego begins to toy with our minds and weaken the will that madew us win in the first place.

 

104 

No matter what you’ve done up to this point, you better still be a student. If you’re not still learning, you’re already dying.

 

105 

That uncomfortable feeling, that defensiveness that you feel when your most deeply held assumptions are challenged – what about subjecting yourself to it deliberately.

 

108 

Standard of Performance – What should be done. When. How.

 

117 

it’s absolutely critical that you know who you’re competing with and why.

 

117 

euthymia – the sense of our own path and how to stay on it without getting distracted by all the others that intersect it.

 

130 

As you become successful in your own field, your responsibilities may begin to change. Less about doing, more about making decisions.

 

131 

Responsibility requires a readjustment and then increased clarity and purpose.

 

134 

Ego needs honors. Confidence is able to wait and focus on the task at hand.

 

137 

It doesn’t make you a bad person to want… that’s all part of the allure.

 

141 

By widening our perspective, more comes into view.

 

147 

Don’t be deceived by the recognition you have gotten or the amount of money in your bank account.

 

151 

Endless ambition is easy. Complacency is easy too. What’s difficult is to apply the right amount of pressure.

 

152 

The crowd roots for the underdog, and it roots against the winners.

These are the facts of life.

 

161 

If success is ego intoxication, then failure can be a devastating blow.

 

165 

At any given moment, there is the chance of failure or setbacks.

 

165 

Whether what you’re going through is your fault or your problem doesn’t matter, because it’s yours to deal with right now.

 

166 

[We need] confidence and a willingness to endure. A sense of right and wrong.

 

166 

Ego says: “We shouldn’t have to put up with this. We’re not the problem.”

 

167 

The great failing is to “see yourself as more than you are and to value yourself at less than your true worth.” – Goethe

 

168 

[They were] adhering to a set of internal metrics that allowed them to evaluate and gauge their progress while everyone on the outside was too distracted by supposed signs of failure or weakness.

 

168 

Everyone experiences failure and adversity. It means we’ll face them too. The only way out is through.

 

169 

There’s stoic – even cheerful – resilience. [We] can get by without constant validation.

 

170 

Vivre sans temps mort. – Live without wasted time.

 

171 

There are two types of time in our lives: dead time – passive and waiting, alive time – learning and acting.

 

173 

I want it my way. This is shortsighted.

 

173 

Dead time is revived when we use it.

 

173 

This moment is not your life. But it is a moment in your life.

 

174 

In life, we all get stuck with dead time. Its occurrence is out of our control. It’s use on the other hand, is.

 

176 

the vices of absolute power – control, paranoia, selfishness, greed.

 

176 

He knew that he did it well. He knew he had done was right. That was enough.

 

178 

Doing good work is sufficient. The less attached we are to outcomes the better. Fulfilling our own standards is what fills us with pride. The effort… is enough.

 

179 

We can’t let that (the expectations of others) be what motivates us.

 

180 

You will be unappreciated. You will fail. Change the definition of success.

 

181 

The world is… indifferent to what we humans “want.” Doing the work is enough.

 

183 

Duris dura franguntur. – Hard things are broken by hard things. The bigger the ego the harder the fall.

 

184 

In those moments, (of significant life changes) you were forced to make eye contact with a thing called the Truth.

 

184 

Three traits of the Truth:

They come at the hands of some outside force or person

They involve things we knew about but were too scared to admit

The ruin gives an opportunity for progress and improvement

 

185 

The world can show you the truth, but no one can force you to accept it.

 

186 

Threatened egotism is one of the most dangerous forces on earth.

 

186 

Everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” – John 3:20

 

187 

Change begins by hearing the criticism and the words of the people around you… discarding the ones that don’t matter and reflecting on the ones that do.

 

189 

He found himself in a hole and kept digging until he made it all the way to hell. Is this the person I want to be.

 

189 

People make mistakes all the time. We take risks. We mess up.

 

190 

He worked until he’d not only proven himself again, but significant;y resolved the falws that had caused his downfall to begin with. (On Steve Jobs)

 

191 

Ego kills what we love.

 

192 

If you cannot reasonably hope for a favorable extrication, do not plunge deeper. Have the courage to make a full stop.

 

192 

You have to be able to see the bigger picture.

 

192 

Most trouble is temporary.

 

193 

When we lose, we have a choice: will it be a lose and then win?

 

193 

Ego says we’re the immovable object, the unstoppable force.

 

193 

Aspiring, succeeding, or failing… these positions are transitory.

 

193 

You must get back to first principles and best practices.

 

193 

He who fears death will never do anything worthy of a living man.” – Seneca

 

196 

Not that they were nit-picking. Or indulging in perfectionism. They had higher standards of performance to adhere to.

 

196 

You’re not as good as you think. You don’t have it all figured out. Stay focused. Do better.

 

197 

They just hold themselves to a standard that exceeds what society might consider to be objective success. They don’t much care what other people think; they care whether they meet their own standards.

 

197 

The absolute best you’re capable of – that’s the metric to measure yourself against.

 

197 

Anyone can win. But not everyone is the best possible version of themselves.

 

199 

It’s not about what you can get away with, it’s about what you should or shouldn’t do.

 

199 

A person who judges himself based on his own standards doesn’t crave the spotlight.

 

201 

The paradox of hate and bitterness. It accomplishes almost exactly the opposite of what we hope it does.

 

204 

Where has hatred and rage ever really gotten anyone?

 

206 

Everyone else has moved on, but you can’t, because you can’t see anything but your own way.

 

206 

Hate defers blame.

 

207 

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

 

208 

I like what is in the work – the chance to find yourself.

 

209 

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

 

209 

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

 

209 

Self-awareness was the way out and through. [To get better, to be able to rise again.]

 

210 

To push through failure with strength, not ego.

 

211 

It’s no easy task to go head-to-head with one’s ego. Most of us can’t handle uncomfortable self-examination.

 

216 

The trick is to learn from other people’s experience.

 

217 

We should want to do great things.

But no less impressive an accomplishment: being better, happier, balance, content, humble and selfless people.

 

217 

Work to refine our habitual thoughts and destructive impulses.

 

217 

You must sweep the floor every minute of every day.