How to Manage Your Ego So You Can Reach Your Full Potential
Posted in Personal Growth, Professional on 15. Sep, 2009
What’s your primary motivation in life?
Most of us want to achieve something in life…but there are time when our aspirations go beyond being a good steward of the opportunities we’ve been given and taken on a life of their own. They can even be masked in noble terminology like wanting to “leave a legacy” — not an inherently negative thing, but when our egos take charge any noble thing can easily become more about the person and less about the work being accomplished.
Dumb Little Man discussed the Ego yesterday, using movies characters (Johhny Depp as George Jung in Blow, and Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas in American Gangster) as examples of egos run amok. They also shared six signs that someone might be ego-driven.
Check out the article for full descriptions, but these six signs are:
- Concern with the approval of others
- Fear of asking for help
- Comparing and Competing
- The constant need for more
- Lack of presence
- The need to always be right
If found their thought on comparing yourself particularly good:
“People who are driven by ego often fall victim to what I call the comparative and competitive disadvantage. Comparing yourself to others is the ego in one of its most vicious forms. It’s a perpetual losing battle because there will always be somebody better and always somebody worse than you are. Even if you are the best in the world at what you do somebody will always be right on your tail. If you keep seeing your life as a competition with those around you, then you will continually be dissatisfied and the ego will drive your life.”
These are good to keep in mind, especially in a competitive, Type-A culture where everything is about competition and “getting ahead.” I’m sure that many of the factors driving egos are more complicated than I could really comprehend or explain, by I have a suspicion that competitive and aggressive environments that measure us in terms of our outward achievements have to play some kind of role. Or maybe it has less to do with our environment and more to do with basic human nature. In any case, these six signs are good to keep in mind.
-Trey
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[How to Manage Your Ego So You Can Reach Your Full Potential at Dumb Little Man]
Peacock Photo by BS_Thurner_Hof, GNU 1.2 License
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Thanks, appreciated the article. However, your list of six signs only included five….I was five for five but my ego was hoping for six for six!
I’ll check out the article you reference to get the rest, if any.
Cheers and all the best!
Ok, the one you missed was “concern with the approval of others”. One who consistently measures oneself by how they think others perceive is destined to be under-actualized. 2 problems here: 1) others are not infallible judges and 2) your perception of how others are perceive you is also a very fallible thing.
ok, im done.
cheers,
tony
Thanks Tony, appreciate the catch! Updating the post right now. -Trey
Thanks Tony, appreciate the catch! Updating the post right now. -Trey
Thanks Tony, appreciate the catch! Updating the post right now. -Trey
Thanks Tony, appreciate the catch! Updating the post right now. -Trey
Thanks, appreciated the article. However, your list of six signs only included five….I was five for five but my ego was hoping for six for six!
I’ll check out the article you reference to get the rest, if any.
Cheers and all the best!
Thanks, appreciated the article. However, your list of six signs only included five….I was five for five but my ego was hoping for six for six!
I’ll check out the article you reference to get the rest, if any.
Cheers and all the best!