10 Main Lessons from Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday

Last Updated on July 13, 2023 by The Unbounded Thinker

Ego is the Enemy, by Ryan Holiday, explains how the ego leads to failure and how it makes it difficult for individuals to maintain success. Last week, I shared 40 Amazing quotes from the book. Today, I’ll share the main lessons from Ryan Holiday’s amazing book.

1.Too Much Talk About Your Work Depletes You

People love talking too much about their work because they are unaware of the negative effect of excessive talk.

Excessive talking decreases insights and provides a false sense of achievement. It also makes you think you’ve worked hard towards your goals.

2.You Must Adopt a Student Mindset

You must adopt a student mindset because there’s so much to learn in your career. You adopt a student mindset by striving to learn from everyone and looking for areas to improve on a daily basis. The student mindset allows you to quickly improve your skills and find better methods of working.

3.Attach Yourself to People Who Achieved Success in Your Field

When you associate with people that have succeeded in your field, you’ll be less egotistic because you’ll realize that some people are more skilled than you. Besides, you’ll learn a lot of things – from these individuals – that will lead to quick success.

4.Practice Self-Control on Your Journey to Success

You must practice self-control when pursuing success because bad things will happen on your journey. For instance, many people will treat you poorly, and you’ll be forced to work behind the scenes.

5.The Dangers of Pride

Pride makes you miss opportunities because it prevents you from establishing reliable relationships. Besides, it awakens your negative aspects and eradicates the desire to learn from others.

6.Know What You Want In Life

It’s easier to succeed if you know what you want because this knowledge enables you to avoid distractions. Furthermore, knowing what you want prevents you from desiring what successful people own because it enables you to realize that your goal is more important than their possessions.

7.Maintain Your Sobriety When Things Get Better

Maintain sobriety when success starts approaching by avoiding behavior that reinforces the ego. This behavior includes obsessing with your self-image, despising people, desiring better treatment, and over-focusing on your self-anointed importance.

8.Ego Betrays You When Things Get Difficult

Ego prevents you from overcoming difficulty because it focuses on the negative side of difficulties. It also discourages you and provides sensible excuses that prevent you from overcoming difficulty.  As Ryan Holiday puts it, ‘ego says; I knew you couldn’t do it. Why did you ever try? It claims: This isn’t worth. This isn’t fair. This is somebody’s else’s problem. Why don’t you come up with a good excuse and wash your hands of this? It tells us we shouldn’t have to put up with this. It tells us that we’re not the problem.’

9.Choose Alive Time during Failure

During failure, you must choose ‘alive time’ by dedicating every second to improving your skills and using your surroundings to create a better situation.

10.Always Love

Avoid hate because, as Ryan Holiday puts it, ‘it is a cancer that gnaws away at the very vital center of your life and existence.’ Embrace love because it enables you to quickly move on and avoid the distractions associated with investigating the wrongs committed against you.

There are many great lessons from Ego is the Enemy, you must read the book to know them all. Anyway, thanks for reading.