‘EGO IS THE ENEMY’: A BOOK REVIEW
“UNDERSTANDING OUR EGO AND LEARNING HOW
TO CONTROL IT TAKES TIME AND INSIGHT.”
Understanding our ego and learning how to control it takes time and insight. Ego Is the Enemy helps us to recognize certain life factors and put them in perspective. The book is broken into three sections: Aspire, Success, and Failure. It is full of stories and anec- dotes from people like Aristotle, Orson Welles, General George Marshall, President Ulysses S. Grant, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Ben Franklin, Presi- dent Richard Nixon, Jackie Robinson, General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Ghengis Khan, and John Wooden, to mention a few. Our ego can have a direct relationship to the success and failures in our lives, and the book’s three sections truly provide us with relatable insights and stories that can help us understand the journey. All three sections start with a quote related to the section. Aspire: “To whatever you aspire, Ego is your enemy…” The mini-chapters are titled: “Talk, Talk, Talk,” “To Be or to Do?” “Become a Student,” “Don’t Be Passionate,” “Follow the Canvas Strategy,” “Restrain Yourself,” “Get Out of Your Own Head,” “The Danger of Early Pride,” “Work, Work, Work,” and “For Everything that Comes Next, Ego Is the Enemy .” Success: “To whatever success you have achieved, Ego is the enemy…” Part two of the story is broken down into nine parts: “Always Stay a Student,” Don’t Tell Yourself a Story,” “What’s Important to You?” “Entitle- ment, Control, and Paranoia,” “Managing Your- self,” “Beware the Disease of Me,” “Meditate on the Immensity,” “Maintain Your Sobriety,” and “For What Often Comes Next, Ego Is the Enemy .”
Failure: “To whatever failure and challenges you will face, Ego is the Enemy …” The final of the three principles is Failure and the seven sections are: “Alive Time or Dead Time?” “The Effort Is Enough,” “Fight Club Moments,” “Draw the Line,” “Maintain Your Own Scorecard,” “Always Love,” and “For Everything that Comes Next, Ego Is the Enemy.” In the reviews section, The Honorable Frederic Block, a U.S. District Judge and author said, “What a valuable book for those in positions of authority! It has made me a better judge.” Our history books tell us tales of visionaries who remade the world with tre- mendous and often irrational force. At the same time, we have also experienced those highly successful people who fought their egos daily, stayed out of the spot- light, and put their higher goals above themselves, their egos, and the great desire for recognition. In my opinion, this book can provide each person who takes the time to read it with a new perspective on themselves and a better understanding of the many others they encounter in daily life. Understanding the human ego and how to manage and keep it under control is the basic and compelling nature of the book. I also believe it is a book that showcases the importance of fairness and humil- ity. We have all met boastful exhibitors and judges who express that, in their opin- ion, their dogs or their opinions are better and sought out more frequently than those of others. Let’s face it, all of us as humans want to be respected by our peers as well as enjoy a level of success in our lifetime endeavors. At the same time, we need to be cognitive of how our behavior affects others. Try to remember that EGO can be the enemy that keeps you from achieving those goals.
80 | SHOWSIGHT MAGAZINE, MARCH 2024
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