I’ve been reading …

Ryan Holiday’s Ego is the Enemy is one of the most important books that I’ve read for a long time, and I think it is worth spending some time with.

This book really spoke to me – for several reasons. I relate because I have frequently battled my ego. Ryan warns that giving into my ego kills the potential I have to become the person I am meant to be. My ego is the barrier between the talk I do to gain recognition and awards and the work I do to create something important.

I think that his table of contents alone inspires me to consider the role my ego plays in almost every aspect of my life. It reads like a how-to-manual and a warning of the dangers that lie ahead if we let our egos control us. I will share it here.

PART I. ASPIRE

  1. Talk, talk, talk
  2. To be or to do?
  3. Become a student
  4. Don’t be passionate
  5. Follow the canvas strategy (become an apprentice)
  6. Restrain yourself
  7. Get out of your own head
  8. The danger of early pride
  9. Work, work, work
  10. For everything that comes next, ego is the enemy

PART II. SUCCESS

  1. Always stay a student
  2. Don’t tell yourself a story
  3. What’s important to you?
  4. Entitlement, control, and paranoia
  5. Managing yourself
  6. Beware the disease of me
  7. Meditate on the immensity
  8. Maintain your sobriety (be serious and sober)
  9. For what often comes next, ego is the enemy

PART III. FAILURE

  1. Alive time or dead time?
  2. The effort is enough
  3. Fight club moments
  4. Draw the line
  5. Maintain your own scorecard (don’t measure yourself by the scorecard of others)
  6. Always love
  7. For everything that comes next, ego is the enemy

I hope that this magnificent list has inspired you to buy the book. And I hope that together we can learn to conquer our egos and do something actually worthy of celebration and renown.

From the book, the accolades for Holiday’s new contribution to our never-ending education

“In his new book Ryan Holiday, attacks the greatest obstacle to mastery and true success in life—our insatiable ego. In an inspiring yet practical way, he teaches us how to manage and tame this beast within us so that we can focus on what really matters—producing the best work possible.”
—Robert Greene, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Mastery

“I see the toxic vanity of ego at play every day and it never ceases to amaze me how often it wrecks promising creative endeavors. Read this book before it wrecks you or the projects and people you love. Consider it as urgently as you do a proper workout regimen and eating right.  Ryan’s insights are priceless.”
—Marc Ecko, founder of Ecko Unltd and Complex

My gratitude goes to Michael Heath of Cyanic Automation for connecting me to this highly insightful work. Thank you, Mike – I owe you another one.