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Ego Is the Enemy

Book by Ryan Holiday · 19 quotes · Ego, Humility, Failure

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Ego Is the Enemy Quotes

“We have only minimal control over the rewards for our work and effort - other people’s validation, recognition, rewards. It’s far better when doing the work itself is sufficient. When fulfilling our own internal standards is what fills us with pride and self-respect. The less attached we are to the outcomes, the better. Our ego wants recognition & compensation. We have expectations. Let the effort, not the results be enough. Maybe your parents/kids/partner/etc won’t be impressed. We can’t let THAT be what motivates us. We can change the definition of success to: ‘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.’ With this definition we decide not to let externals determine if something is worth doing. It’s on us.”

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“When our cause is young, we feel so intensely that it seems wrong to take it slow. This is our inability to see that burning ourselves out isn’t going to hurry the journey along. The critical work that you want to do will require your deliberation and consideration. Not passion. Not naïveté. It’d be far better if you were intimidated by what lies ahead - humbled by its magnitude and determined to see it through. Leave passion for the amateurs. Make it about what you feel you *must* do or say, not what you care about and wish to be. Then you will do great things. Then you will stop being your old, good-intentioned, but ineffective self.”

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“Is it ten thousand hours or twenty thousand hours to mastery? The answer is that it doesn't matter. There is no end zone. To think of a number is to live in a conditional future. We're simply talking about a lot of hours - that to get where we want to go isn't about brilliance, but continual effort. It means it's all within reach - for all of us, provided we have the constitution and humbleness to be patient and the fortitude to put in the work.”

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“Our own path, whatever we aspire to, will in some ways be defined by the amount of nonsense we are willing to deal with. It doesn’t matter how talented you are, how great your connections are, how much money you have. When you want to do something - something big and important and meaningful - you will be subjected to treatment ranging from indifference to outright sabotage. Those who have subdued their ego understand that it doens’t degrade you when others treat you poorly; it degrades them.”

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“At some time during the process, [of writing] I came up with a therapeutic device. After each draft I would tear up the pages and feed the paper to a worm compost I keep in my garage. A few months later, those painful pages were dirt that nourished my yard, which I could walk with bare feet. It was a real and tangible connection to that larger immensity. I liked to remind myself that the same process is going to happen to me when I'm done, when I die and nature tears me up...”

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“Los perros, Dios los bendiga, son apasionados, como lo pueden atestiguar numerosas ardillas, pájaros, cajas, mantas y juguetes. Los perros no logran la mayor parte de lo que se proponen hacer. Sin embargo, tienen una ventaja en todo esto: una memoria de muy corto plazo que mantiene a raya la horrible sensación de futilidad e impotencia. Por otro lado la realidad de nosotros los humanos no tiene razones para ser sensible a las ilusiones bajo las cuales funcionamos. Con el tiempo, la realidad termina por interferir.”

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“Appearances are deceiving. *Having* authority is not the same as *being* an authority. *Having* the right and *being* the right are not the same either. Being promoted doesn't necessarily mean you're doing good work and it doesn't mean you are worthy of promotion (they call it failing upward in such bureaucracies). *Impressing people is utterly different from being truly impressive.* To be or to do - life is a constant roll call.”

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