Ego Is the Enemy

One of the early members of Alcoholics Anonymous defined ego as “a conscious separation from.” From what? Everything.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool.

Greatness comes from humble beginnings; it comes from grunt work. It means you’re the least important person in the room—until you change that with results.

The orator Demosthenes once said that virtue begins with understanding and is fulfilled by courage.

The ego we see most commonly goes by a more casual definition: an unhealthy belief in our own importance. Arrogance. Self-centered ambition.

How can someone be busy and not accomplish anything? Well, that’s the passion paradox.

Impressing people is utterly different from being truly impressive.

It’s always nice to be made to feel special or empowered or inspired. But that’s not the aim of this book. Instead, I have tried to arrange these pages so that you might end in the same place I did when I finished writing it: that is, you will think less of yourself. I hope you will be less invested in the story you tell about your own specialness,

It’s about the doing, not the recognition. Easier in the sense that you don’t need to compromise. Harder because each opportunity—no matter how gratifying or rewarding—must be evaluated along strict guidelines: Does this help me do what I have set out to do? Does this allow me to do what I need to do? Am I being selfish or selfless