____ is the Enemy
Jan 23, 2023
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool."
This quote by Richard Feynman is at the start of one of my favorite books.
It's a book about something that we all have, even though most of us would probably like to say otherwise - that something is ego.
The book is called Ego is the Enemy and it was written by Ryan Holiday.
Ryan defines ego in a different way than you'd hear from a psychologist.
He says the ego is "an unhealthy belief in our own importance. Arrogance. Self-centered ambition...The need to be better than, more than, recognized for, far past any reasonable utility."
Most people will say they aren't egotistical or they don't have an ego.
But in my experience as an advisor, just about everyone has an ego when it comes to money.
Ego is there when someone starts to make a little bit of money investing. It's telling you you can't make a losing trade.
The truth - You can and will make losing trades.
Ego is there when someone wants to seek help with their finances but they're scared to admit their mistakes.
The truth - We've all made money mistakes. It's okay!
Ego is there when you're trying to maintain a spending plan. It's telling you that you deserve to buy what you want right now. Why should you have to make tradeoffs?
The truth - You don't need everything. You need the right things.
Ego is there when working with an advisor. What do they know? My situation is different.
The truth - It might be different in some way but the principles always apply.
Ego will always be there. It's impossible to avoid.
That's fine.
The goal isn't to rid yourself of ego.
The goal is to learn how to recognize it when it shows up, to learn how to manage it, and to remember that when it comes to your wealth building journey...
Ego is the Enemy