I’ve been reading a book called Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. The entire time I’ve been reading it, my mind has been fixated on it and it’s not too often that a book gets me thinking really deep into life and how I’m living mine.
The whole premise of the book is that, exactly as the title states, Ego is our number one enemy. It’s what destroys men and women alike that have great ambitions and visions for their lives, companies, or empires. Even in our day to day lives, those of us that just go to work and come back home, ego is there and it may be ruining any chance of success that we think we may have or want.
The book has truly made me stop and think about my own doings in my life and why I’m doing certain things. Am I striving for success purely to gain attention from others? To feel more important? To be remembered for generations to come?
I can use this blog for example. I’ve always wanted to have my own blog. To talk about my thoughts, ideas, and just general things I’m doing in my life. I also talk about a lot of achievements that I believe are important so I can stand out from the crowd. That’s how you get noticed, right? But is it actually important to stand out? Don’t misunderstand this and take it as you shouldn’t be trying to become a better person, (I think everybody should strive to become their best versions) but you can take it too far as well and by becoming better you start having the mindset that you really are “better” than other people.
I’m totally guilty of feeling as though I’m worth more than someone else. Thinking I’m better in some capacity. Now obviously, at least according to society, we can be better at some skills then other people. For example, let’s look at professional athletes. Their called professionals for a reason. They’re better than 99% of the population at the sport they play. There’s no way I could ever argue that I’m better at basketball compared to Lebron James, but that doesn’t mean he’s greater than me as a person even if he worth millions of dollars and is one of the greatest basketball players. Honestly, if I were to meet Lebron James I wouldn’t even talk to him about basketball because I don’t talk about sports in general
Another example could be Jeff Bezos who has just recently passed Bill Gates as the world’s richest man who’s estimated to now be worth over $100 million. One can argue that he’s better at many things than I am. He provides more value to society than I do because of his mammoth of a business, Amazon. You could say he is better at business, better at communicating, better at being a leader. However you can’t say that his life is inherently worth more than mine. This is due in part that even if he’s the richest man in the world currently, there are still plenty and plenty of people in this world who have no idea who he is and if they were to meet him he’d be just like anybody else. (I actually mentioned Jeff Bezos’ name to a coworker and they had no idea who he was).
This brings me to what I’ve actually been dealing with personally. Like I mentioned above, I’m completely guilty of feeling as though I’ve been superior to others throughout moments of my life even when I know that I’m not. I have no shame in admitting to that either. I think it’s human nature. At some times it can be a good thing to feel. It keeps competition alive and keep you going on your pursuit to success. At the same time it can be bad because really you’re not better and you’re putting others down instead of helping build them up. There’s a fine line and I believe that it’s all too easy to let the good times get to our head even if it’s something small.
I’m certain that we all experience this feeling. When your ego takes over and says to you that you are better. You did the work and you deserve a reward. You deserved that A on your test. You deserved the job promotion. You deserved to take that trip. But then you become blindsided. You start rubbing in in other peoples faces and it controls you. You get a little bit of power and it goes to your head and you become someone different. Someone that you most likely said you’d never become. Then you start losing it all and your life comes crashing down bringing humility. The rival to your ego.
When you go through a humbling experience you get that perspective back. You get knocked back to where you came from and remember that you’re just like everybody else. We all bleed the same blood and are dealing with the same problems.
That’s just what’s been rattling around in my head lately.
Let me know what you think or maybe cases where you’ve experienced having too big of and ego or when you got knocked back down from a power trip by being humbled. I’d love to hear your stories.
And as always thanks for reading!