---

At the end of the year, I like to re-read a book that will set the tone for the upcoming year. For 2023, I dove back into Ryan Holiday’s Ego is the Enemy. 

Ego is the Enemy is a reminder to do the work. I made a major career change in 2022, and I feel like I know what I need to do to be successful. Success will come if I do the little things right and remain humble in the incremental progress I need to make each day. 

Holiday opens the book with a refreshing quote.

“I hope you will think less of yourself. I hope you will be less invested in the story you tell about your own specialness, and as a result, you will be liberated to accomplish the world-changing work you’ve set out to achieve.”

Holiday finds ways throughout the book to highlight the pitfalls of success. He expands on the paradox that many of the things that make you successful in the first place can ultimately lead to your downfall. I think any person who has done well in their career should read this book as a reminder and a way to reflect on the work you did to become successful. 

Quotes

“Ego doesn’t allow for proper incubation either. To become what we ultimately hope to become often takes long periods of obscurity, of sitting and wrestling with some topic or paradox. Humility is what keeps us there, concerned that we don’t know enough and that we must continue to study.”

“What is rare is not raw talent, skill, or even confidence, but humility, diligence, and self-awareness. We will learn that though we think big, we must act and live small in order to accomplish what we seek.”

“This is what happens when you start to think about what your rapid achievements say about you and begin to slacken the effort and standards that initially fueled them.”

“Instead of pretending that we are living some great story, we must remain focused on the execution—and on executing with excellence.”

“In most cases, we think that people become successful through sheer energy and enthusiasm. We almost excuse ego because we think it’s part and parcel of the personality required to “make it big.” Maybe a bit of that overpoweringness is what got you where you are. But let’s ask: Is it really sustainable for the next several decades? Can you really outwork and outrun everyone forever?”