Cover

Date read: 27/02/2018

Summary
Ego is always there, telling us we should be doing better, that we aren’t as good as those around us, or that they’re trash and we’re top of the pile. Ryan Holiday combines case studies of ego running wild, with tales of people who managed to control their ego, such as General Marshall.

Structure
The book is split up into three main sections:

  • Aspire (getting there)
  • Success (you’ve made it)
  • Failure (it’s all gone wrong)

It covers how ego affects us, and how to deal with it, in each of these stages of success.

Quotes
“Silence is the respite of the confident and the strong” - p26

“Never give reasons for what you think or do until you must. Maybe, after a while, a better reason will pop into your head” - p26

“…Each fighter, to become great, he said, needs to have someone better that they can learn from, someone lesser who they can teach, and someone equal that they can challenge themselves against” - p39

“A true student is like a sponge, absorbing what goes on around him, filtering it, latching on to what he can hold.” - p40

“A student is self-critical and self-motivated” - p40

“…so we stay stuck inside our heads instead of participating in the world around us. That’s ego, baby.” - p71

“What am I missing right now that a more humble person might see? What am I avoiding, or running from, with my bluster, franticness, and embellishments?” - p77

“It takes a special kind of humility to grasp what you know less, even as you know and grasp more and more.” - p103

“All of us waste precious life doing things we don’t like, to prove ourselves to people we don’t respect, and to get things we don’t want.” - p116

“Finding refuge in distraction” - p173

“See much, study much, suffer much, that is the path to wisdom” - p209

Key Takeaways

Always stay a student
Try to avoid being the smartest person in the room. Surround yourself with people or materials you can learn from.

Golden mean
Aristotle’s idea of the golden mean, that a moderate position between two extremes is often the best path to take.

Trust in the process
All of life is spent working towards something, believe in the process and the rewards will come.

Stay humble
There is a difference between confidence and ego, maintain a quiet confidence but don’t let it get out of hand.