Ego is the Enemy: The Problem with Ambitions

This article is based on my personal summary of the book, “Ego is the Enemy” By Ryan Holiday. My purpose of writing it is to simply highlight the important lessons, as eloquently expressed by the author in the book, to warn people of the evil of ambitions and the ways given to escape it: “For people with ambitions, talents, drives, and potential to fulfil, 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 the darker side of this psyche.

In this way, ego is the enemy of what we want and of what we have: Of mastering a craft. Of real creative insight. It repulses advantages and opportunities. It’s a magnet for enemies and errors.”

To be or To do? – Here the question lies: Do you want to be someone important, lose your friends, make major compromises for your dreams or do you want to do something important, maintain your relationships and not compromise who you truly are?

Restrain Yourself

“Getting angry, emotional or losing restraint is a recipe for failure in the ring. When someone doesn’t reckon you with the seriousness that you’d like, the impulse is to correct them. (As we all wish to say: Do you know who I am?!) You want to remind them of what they’ve forgotten; your ego screams for you to indulge it.

Instead, you must do nothing. Take it. Eat it until you’re sick. Endure it. Quietly brush it off and work harder. Play the game. Ignore the noise; for the love of God, do not let it distract you. Restraint is a difficult skill but a critical one.”

It doesn’t matter how talented you are, you will receive backlash. People will not see your talent, but you must stay calm through their degrading.

The Danger of Early Pride

“Receive feedback, maintain hunger, and chart a proper course in life. Pride dulls these senses. Or in other cases, it tunes up other negative parts of ourselves: sensitivity, a persecution complex, the ability to make everything about us.”

Don’t let a little success spoil you and make you forget who you are and what you love. Keep your head down, stay humble and keep working towards your goals. Don’t brag – there is nothing in it for you.

Work, Work, Work

“A poet’s function is not to experience a poetic state – that is a private affair. His function is to create it in others.”

Maintaining your image is important but not more than your work. You must view opportunities and consider them on the basis of whether they help you improve further and truly achieve your goals. Gaining attention from the media and receiving appreciation awards, these are, at the end of the day, distractions and time away from what we really love to do.

When you’re in a difficult situation or when you feel trapped, think about what you can do, what you can learn. Don’t focus on the negative aspect of your circumstances, only use the time to improve yourself and reek your benefit out of it. If you cannot travel, then read. If you cannot workout or play sports, then walk. If you can’t talk, then write. Make the best out of every difficult and dark phase in your life.

“Maybe your parents will never be impressed. Maybe your girlfriend won’t care, maybe the audience will never clap, but we have to be able to push through, we can’t let that be what motivates us.”

You will be unappreciated, you will be sabotaged, you will experience many failures. Your expectations won’t be met. You will lose. You will fail. But all you can control is the work you do and the effort you make.

These external quotes used by the author accurately expand on the point he wishes to make in the book:

“Change the definition of success. Success is a peace of mind: which is a direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” – John wooden.

“Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do . . . Sanity means tying it to your own actions.” - Marcus Aurelius

As the author writes, “Do your work. Do it well. Then “let go and let God.“ That’s all there needs to be.

Recognition and rewards—those are just extra. Rejection, that’s on them, not on us.”

Ego is the Enemy

“People can get lucky and win. People can be assholes and win. Anyone can win. But not everyone is the best possible version of themselves.“

Face life with quiet confidence despite all the distractions. We can let ego delude us or we can look at our shortcomings and put the time in. We can see where we are talented and where we need to improve and we can humble ourselves by constantly focusing on that.

We have to bow down to things that are bigger than us; the sky, the ocean, the vast universe. We have to keep our feet on the ground and remind ourselves of what we truly desire from life and whether we really need to prove anything to the world around us or if we just need to enjoy the moment in front of us and bring peace to our souls by doing things we’re passionate about, without seeking any validation for it.