Book: "The ego is the enemy".
Many times throughout our existence we consider ourselves superior to other people, because we have more money, more recognition, better family, etc. Throughout this book the author describes how our ego can be harmful to us, how thinking about ourselves can be harmful, not only in situations where we achieve resounding successes, but also in moments where we have failed and even when we are just aspiring to achieve our goals. Whenever we aspire to achieve something like having a successful business, starting a new profession, embarking on a new direction in our life, ... we feel excited and happy, we mistakenly think that all the activities we have to do to bring our goals to a happy ending will be carried out smoothly and everything will work out the way we have planned it. However, this almost never happens, since whenever we start something new there will always be activities that are emotionally difficult to perform and that will take us more time than estimated, since we do not find an easy way to accomplish them, and then what do most of us do when we find ourselves with this kind of tasks? we start to procrastinate and justify ourselves by doing other less important activities.
One story that illustrates how we can evade these difficult tasks is that of Emily Gould, who with her great reputation as an American author, novelist and blogger was offered a multi-million dollar contract for the publication of a novel; however, there came a time when she found herself stuck, and what do you think she started doing? She dedicated herself more to surfing the internet, updating her social media statuses, reading other people's blogs. She herself would later confess that in 2010 she doesn't remember focusing on writing her novel but on her social networks and blogs, because in the end that also seemed to be her job.
We are no different from her, when we get stuck with one activity we do many others instead of focusing on what is really important.
As we can see, achieving something requires effort, 100% commitment to the task at hand. Doing a great job can be at some point exhausting and even demoralizing and that is why our ego at these times acts to seek more rewarding activities. What the author advises us is that, if you are working on a project and you come across a task that is not easy and requires more dedication, do not put it off, give it the importance it deserves, even if it is not to your liking.
The book also makes us reflect that in our beginnings we will inevitably have little knowledge and, at times, to earn a living we will have to accept jobs that are not entirely to our liking, but the important thing is to have humility. None of us deserves special treatment or a prestigious job just because we have a higher university degree. If we really want to fulfill a purpose in our lives, it is necessary to shed that sense of superiority and work, not in search of recognition, but motivated by a greater mission.
One last important thing to keep in mind according to this book is that when we aspire to something, continuous learning is fundamental; if you want to do something memorable you will not achieve it if you do not cultivate your knowledge on a daily basis. Our ego can protest and tell us that things are not fair, that we deserve more for our work, that it is better to do more interesting things; but the key is to learn how to manage this type of reactions produced by our ego.
The ego can also be our worst enemy in success, for example, when we have achieved something important in our lives we can magnify our pride, highlighting our importance with respect to others. When we become successful we may think that we do not have things to improve; in that sense the libor invites us to continually seek the best version of us, no matter the success we are experiencing, but the important thing is to note that once we become successful in some aspect of our life there comes a point where we are not happy with what we have, if it is money and there is someone around who has more we want more. In our relentless pursuit to achieve more abundance we can lose the horizon saying yes to every business opportunity that comes our way and sometimes life ends and we fail to enjoy what we have harvested. It is not to say that money is not important because in a way it is, what we must understand is that we must define what we want in our life? Because for someone having 300,000 dollars may be too little while for another person that amount may be more than enough to have a balanced life. Only you can decide which path you want to take, maybe your priority is money, or the time you spend with your family, or building a successful organization, ... Everyone has a unique potential and purpose, enjoy your achievements, do not get distracted by those who achieve results faster; it is about improving and doing things as well as possible. Compare yourself only to yourself, maybe what it takes you three years to build someone else does in six months, but what does it matter, walk your own path and enjoy your own achievements.
The book also explains how the ego acts when we face situations of failure, for example, the ego can tell us "I knew you could not do it", "you are not good enough to achieve it", "what happens to me is the fault of others". What we have to keep in mind is that as long as we are in this world we are going to have to face failure at some point, we can do everything right and yet find ourselves in difficult situations. In these moments we have two times in our life, as stated by Robert Greene who was RyanHoliday's mentor:
- Live time: is when people in problem situations are using every second to learn how to act and change situations.
- Dead time: is when people wait and do not try to reverse the situation.
Malcolm X, who at one time was a criminal sentenced to prison, chose to make the most of his time, he dedicated himself to study in prison; which later allowed him to become a well known religious activist and politician.
It is in each one of us to choose what we want to do in our life and it is in difficult moments where we must make an effort to give the best of ourselves.
Our ego accompanies us in every moment of our life, whether in aspiration, success or failure, but the most important thing is to learn to conquer it as it is our greatest opponent.
I have also been in the place you are now. When I started with my dream of setting up my own Medical Clinic and was the CEO, I did not know how to fulfill my responsibilities at work and be present at home with my family at the same time. However, after making changes in my productivity, goal setting and leadership, I was able to take my company forward through an economic recession the country was in and achieve positive results; all while being home in time to have dinner with my family every night.
I now teach the same principles that helped my leadership, along with my team, here at CIME Academy.
If you want to know more about our training proposal in aesthetic medicine, we encourage you to contact us. We will solve your doubts and advise you on what you need.
Dr. Manuel Rubio Sanchez
aesthetic doctor
