Humans are emotional creatures. Some more so than others, but nonetheless, our emotional response to various stimuli is generally the first reaction we offer up. We don’t take the time to process issues and pick the best option, something we talked about extensively in our previous post. With this set of facts established, we can now turn our attention to our ego and the role it plays in our ability to make sound decisions. Ego is your biggest enemy. It is a subconscious instinct that we need to learn to pinpoint and control if we want to be successful at what we do. More often than not, what stops people in their tracks on their road to success is their ego and pride. Those who have reached the highest levels of success even succumb to their ego and that could cost them dearly. No matter where you find yourself on this scale, one thing stays in common, ego is your enemy.
Ego from the top down
Our ego can be our biggest vice. So many of us are unable to accept constructive criticism because it is painful to do so. We don’t want to give up on the premise of being right so our ego digs us a hole that eventually becomes deeper and deeper. If you continue to dig in order to preserve your ego, it will become very hard or even impossible to dig your way back out. Being receptive to feedback from those around you and utilizing the collective creativity of others to enhance your ideas and vision is what creates the highest levels of success.
For example, innovative companies such as Google encourage their workers to brainstorm ideas on how to make the company better and more innovative. They created an environment that rewards creativity by allowing people to move up in the company by advancing it from the inside. This is an ingenious approach to take from a management standpoint. The best and most innovative companies utilize ALL of their resources to be at the cutting edge. Google understood the premise that those who work in Google everyday would see areas of improvement that maybe someone from a higher position might not. This has resulted in innovative and extremely lucrative additions to Google such as AdSense and Gmail, two of the most used and profit-generating aspects of the company to date. This is eliminating ego at the MACRO level. When a company allows those in the trenches to participate in the greater vision, growth becomes exponential.
Ego from the bottom up
While you may be able to grasp the ideas from the macro level discussed in the previous section, what many don’t realize is how these same concepts can apply to each individual on a micro level. As a growth-minded individual, recruiting the right people around you to help manifest your vision is non-negotiable. As a result of these connections, each individual vision grows closer to completion. Unfortunately for us, this harmonious relationship is not human nature in many cases. Our ego can get in the way of the creation of many fruitful and useful relationships along our journey. Not knowing it all can be a difficult thing for people to accept. Learning how to cooperate and work with others who have different yet complementary ideas is a difficult thing to do. When things go wrong, our first instinct as humans is to point the finger at something of someone else to deflect blame from ourselves. This is the act of preserving our ego from the necessary pain it must face for having made a mistake, something we must avoid at all costs.
Accountability is the enemy of our ego
Big egos hate accountability. They hate having been wrong, taking responsibility, or not being able to accomplish everything single handedly. They are inherently distrusting and find it extremely difficult to work with and take ideas and feedback from others. This is the seemingly uphill battle we must fight and win as successful, financially free people. We must learn to contain our egos, take accountability, and learn to harness the power of working with and leveraging the talents of others. This is what builds the foundation of innovative success stories such as Google. If you can apply the same concepts to your life, you will undoubtedly see similar exceptional results.