Book Club Friday's (#1) - Ego is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday

Before I talk a little bit about this book and how it has been massively influential in my life and how I believe it can have a similar effect on your life, regardless of your situation… Let me introduce Ryan Holiday.

Born an overachiever, Ryan dropped out of college in his first year to pursue a career revolving around marketing. He was mentored by the author of the 48 laws of Power Robert Greene while he went on to become the Director of Marketing for American Apparel not long after he joined the company after dropping out of college. He is a big Stoicism advocate and loves to read and promote Marcus Aurelius’ school of thought. Aged 30, he has already published several books and has another one coming out in 2018. It is likely that he will have a big part to play in promoting positivity and living a fulfilled life to the rest of the world today.

Why is it so important to be aware of your Ego?

This book is a great one because it condenses certain principles of philosophy and living a happy life into a modest 217-page book. In simple terms, it defines Ego as something in which we need to tame because it is a can prove to be a hinderance to us in almost any situation if it is allowed to get out of hand. By this, I mean that if we do not practice certain principles in maintaining our Ego, it is likely to affect others around us, in relationships and our careers which may hold us high momentarily, however, we will be almost certain to fall.

A teeny tiny summary of the book.

Holiday’s book is split into three parts: Aspire, Success, and Failure. Each section recalls real events and life stories from visionaries and historically remembered and admired figures. They all directly linked to the suppression of Ego, leading to improved quality of life… Or even in some cases the failure to suppress the Ego and the eventual downfall of the perpetrator.

Here are some of the names mentioned in the book:
Names like Thomas Edison, Amelia Earhart, Upton Sinclair, Malcolm X, Wynton Marsalis, Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, John Muir, Angela Merkel, Katharine Graham and Warren Buffett, Muhammad Ali, John DeLorean, Tom Brady.

There is a real diverse set of professions and life circumstances which really adds to the uniqueness of the book. It’s great because there will always be at least one person to whom you can relate to in the book.

My personal use of the book

My Ego has the propensity to be HUGE. As a teenager, I was cocky, I was arrogant and I thought the world owed me something. This book has given me the principles to realise that it is extremely unhealthy to live this way. Unhealthy for the long run, in terms of your happiness. It really puts things into perspective and it constantly travels with me wherever I go, in case I may need a reminder to stay sober when in need.

A word of advice… We ALL have an Ego. Some people who I have told to read this book have the propensity to claim that they don’t really feel like they have an Ego. Little do they know, the fact that they are saying such a thing would clearly imply that their Ego is a little bigger than they may have thought. If you fall into this category, I beg you to think twice and to give the book a go at reading it. You will not regret it!

Adam x