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One of the characters wisely says, “Get busy living or get busy dying.” Those seven, simple words represent some of the best advice for avoiding failure and moving forward. There's a great line in the movie, The Shawshank Redemption.
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Remember that when these feelings appear, it's the ego that's behind them and that knowledge will help keep things in perspective. The ego isn't intentionally sabotaging efforts and causing chaos it's just trying to protect itself. See the ego for what it is: a finicky, often illogical part of the psyche that unwittingly undermines success. The ego needs to be in control because it is afraid of any challenge to its “authority.” And the ego gets paranoid because it thinks, “I can only trust myself, and anyone who questions me is out to get me.”Īll these ego-driven thoughts are just another way for the ego to hide the insecurity and weakness beneath the surface. The ego tries to convince someone that they should have something because it is rightfully theirs, that they've earned it, even when there is little evidence that it's true. When someone is feeling entitled, the need to always be in control, or paranoid, that's often the ego talking. “ Do you know how you can tell when someone is truly humble? I believe there’s one simple test: because they consistently observe and listen, the humble improve. Continue learning, stay humble, and keep that ego in check to achieve more success. By seeing how the ego is so defensive and prone to exaggerating its successes, it becomes easier to practice humility and focus on being a student again. The ego likes to think that once it finds success that it is finally the master and no longer the student.ĭefensive by nature, the ego can prevent any further learning because it thinks “I've got this.” But the first sign of being challenged or questioned will reveal how little the ego knows, leaving it damaged and resentful. What the ego often fails to recognize is that success is a product of learning and that it's a stepping stone for more achievements. This lack of perspective can lead to thoughts of finally “making it,” or thinking that the hard work is over. Success will give the ego what it longs for, but the achievements are often overestimated. It's great to have a passion for the work, but that passion is secondary to putting in the effort. What the ego doesn't want to think about is that focused, deliberate work is what gets results. The ego tends to obsess over concepts like these and is willing to spend a lot of time thinking about all those wonderful possibilities. It sounds deep and profound, and while passion can be a valuable driving force, it still doesn't get the job done. Follow your passion, and you will find work you love. Find your passion, and you will find your purpose. Self-help books usually have a lot of well-meaning advice about passion. They found that self-awareness was the way out and through, if they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have gotten better and they wouldn’t have been able to rise again.”
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They found within those experiences some benefit, even if it was simply the realization that they were not infallible and that things would not always go their way. “All great men and women went through difficulties to get to where they are, all of them made mistakes. By understanding how all that talking is the ego's way of procrastinating or avoiding self-doubt, it makes it easier get back to work. The problem here is that the ego doesn't like thinking about anything that may be uncomfortable, like work! No matter how great the idea or aspiration, there is no substitute for putting in the work. But what the ego doesn't say is that talk is just that, talk. Besides, it just feels good to be able to talk about things without having actually to do anything. The ego says that all that talk is necessary because it's about important ideas and worthy endeavors. They talk about doing great things or creating something new and different. Everyone loves to talk about their aspirations.