Ego Is the Enemy

by Ryan Holiday

Summary
The book Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday is filled with cautionary tales of those
who let their egos run amok and were eventually undone by the resulting damage, as well
as stories of those who practiced restraint and sobriety, and found success in their endeavors.
This book can be an antidote (or at least the beginning of one) to the unraveling that is possible
when one indulges ego and loses sight of reality—if you let it: “Not in the Freudian
sense,” Holiday says of ego, but ego in the colloquial sense, as in “an unhealthy belief in your
own importance. Arrogance. Self-centered ambition.”

The book is structured as short essays split into three parts: Aspire, Success, and
Failure.  These being three phases that one invariably finds themselves in at any given moment,
often alternating between them over the course of a life. As the book says, “Aspiration leads to
success (and adversity). Success creates its own adversity (and, hopefully, new ambitions). And
adversity leads to aspiration and more success. It’s an endless loop.”
In addition to these three phases, there are a few major themes running through each part of the
book, as well as how people can successfully conquer their ego in each phase.