humility

The pitfalls of thinking about yourself too much

The pitfalls of thinking about yourself too much

Have you ever been told to get out of your head? Or that you are too consumed with what other people think about you?


If that sounds like a piece of advice you’ve been given, then today’s #vlog is for you.


As a leader, it’s easy to get trapped in your own head -- to let your thoughts about yourself and what others think about you consume your attention. And when this happens, you begin living in what Ryan Holiday calls “passionate fiction” instead of actual reality.

For everything you aspire to, ego is the enemy.

For everything you aspire to, ego is the enemy.

Author Ryan Holiday says, “For everything you aspire to, ego is the enemy.”

Think about that statement for a second. How powerful -- and true it is.

  • Have you ever stopped to consider the link between your ego and aspirations?

  • How does your ego impact your aspirations?

  • Can you have both an ego and aspirations that are healthy?

Is your EGO unhealthy?

Is your EGO unhealthy?

Is your EGO unhealthy? And what can you do to keep your EGO in check?


We all have an ego -- and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. A healthy ego affirms that you have value and worth -- which is good. However, an unhealthy ego is grown from an unrealistic picture of yourself. It comes from seeing yourself with inflated skills, abilities, intelligence, etc. An unhealthy ego (or inflated sense of self) can be a wildly destructive force in your life if left unchecked.


In this week’s video walkthrough of Ryan Holiday’s Ego Is the Enemy, I’ll be taking us through the book’s introduction and spending some time on Ryan’s definition of EGO. Feel free to check out my perspective on the definition of ego that Ryan outlines.