In an era that glorifies social media, reality TV, and other forms of shameless self-promotion, the battle against ego must be fought on many fronts.
Their strategies and tactics can be ours as well. We meet fascinating figures such as George Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Katharine Graham, Bill Belichick, and Eleanor Roosevelt, who all reached the highest levels of power and success by conquering their own egos. At every stage, ego holds us back.Įgo Is the Enemy draws on a vast array of stories and examples, from literature to philosophy to history. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. Many of us insist the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. “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 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.” -from the prologue Unfortunately, if you let your ego define success for you in this way, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, because you can’t control how the world receives your work. Because you can only control your own actions, you should evaluate success by judging those actions alone, regardless of how your audience receives them: Focus on efforts, not outcomes.The instant Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and international bestseller In fact, sometimes your ego defines success based entirely on how much or how little others give you such recognition, through honors, praise, awards, job titles, raises, and so on. Your ego wants other people to recognize your work in a positive way. On the other hand, he also illustrates how letting go of your ego will help you achieve lasting success. “Impressing people is utterly different from being truly impressive.” In Ego Is The Enemy, Ryan Holiday uses plenty of real-life stories and examples from literature, philosophy, and history to demonstrate how your ego can destroy you.
Silence is the respite of the confident and the strong.”Įgo often drives people to talk about themselves in positive, self-aggrandizing ways. The ability to deliberately keep yourself out of the conversation and subsist without its validation. Most people are decent at hype and sales.
EGO IS THE ENEMY RYAN HOW TO
Even a child knows how to gossip and chatter. “Anyone can talk about himself or herself. The following Ego Is the Enemy quotes highlight some of the author’s key ideas about having an inflated sense of ego.Ĭheck out these five Ego Is the Enemy quotes by Ryan Holiday. In Ego Is the Enemy, best-selling author Ryan Holiday discusses the ways an inflated ego can keep you from achieving success, destroy the success you’ve already achieved, and prevent you from emerging from failure. What are some of the key Ego Is the Enemy quotes by Ryan Holiday? What do these quotes say about the consequences of having an unchecked ego?
EGO IS THE ENEMY RYAN TRIAL
Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading. This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Ego Is the Enemy" by Ryan Holiday.