Ego; An unhealthy belief in our own importance. Arrogance. Self-centered ambition. It’s that petulant child inside every person, the one that chooses getting his way or her way over anything or anyone else. The need to be better than, more than, recognized for, far past any reasonable utility – that’s ego. It’s the sense of superiority and certainty that exceeds the bounds of confidence and talent.
-Ryan Holiday
It’s when the notion of ourselves and the world grows so inflated that it begins to distort the reality that surrounds us. As football coach Bill Walsh explains, ‘’self-confidence becomes arrogance, assertiveness becomes obstinacy, and self-assurance becomes reckless abandon.
Or as Cyril Connolly warns, “This is the ego that sucks us down like the law of gravity.”
If ego is the voice that tells us we’re better than we really are, we can say ego inhibits true success by preventing a direct and honest connection to the world around us.
No one is truly successful because they are delusional, self-absorbed, or disconnected.
When we remove ego, we’re left with what is real. What replaces ego is humility. Whereas ego is artificial, this type of confidence can hold weight. Ego is stolen. Confidence is earned. Ego is self-anointed, its swagger is artifice, [supposedly] clever and cunning. It’s the difference between potent and poisonous
Most of us aren’t ‘’egomaniacs’’, but ego is there at the root of almost every conceivable problem and obstacle, from why we can’t win to why we need to win all the time and at the expense of others.
“I can respect any person who can put their ego aside and say: I made a mistake, I apologize, and I am correcting my behavior.”
-Sylvester McNutt III
“If you start believing in your greatness, it is the death of your creativity.”
-Marina Avbramovic
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.”
-Richard Feynman
“Check your ego at the door. The ego can be a great success inhibitor. It can kill opportunities, and it can kill success.”
-Dwayne Johnson
“I have no time to battle ego and small minds.”
-Unknown
