📙 Ryan Holiday: Ego Is The Enemy (2016)

Ein Buch, das jedes Jahr wieder gelesen werden möchte. Es ist wirklich reichhaltig an inspirierenden Gedanken. 10/10

Plus, minus, equal

• “The mixed martial arts pioneer and multi-title champion Frank Shamrock has a system he trains fighters in that he calls plus, minus, equal. Each fighter, to become great, he said, needs to have someone better that they can learn from, someone lesser who they can teach, and someone equal that they can challenge themselves against.” (S. 39)
• “The purpose of Shamrock’s formula is simple: to get real and continuous feedback about what they know and what they don’t know from every angle. It purges out the ego that puffs us up, the fear that makes us doubt ourselves, and any laziness that might make us want to coast. As Shamrock observed, “False ideas about yourself destroy you. […].” (S. 39)
• Plus: Meine virtuellen Mentoren, besonders Seth Godin.
• Minus: Meine “Nächsten”, für die mein Angebot nützlich ist, z.B. meine UGP-Kund*innen, meine Studierenden.
• Equal: Martin Schmidt, Bernhard Reingruber, Camillo Patzl, Valentina Keserue uvm.

Purpose > passion

• „[Eleanor] Roosevelt was above passion. She had purpose. She had direction. She wasn’t driven by passion, but by reason.” (S. 44)
• Es geht um PURPOSE!
• Es geht NICHT um meine Selbstverwirklichung!
• Es geht darum, anderen Menschen mit meinen Talenten zu dienen. DAS ist der Sinn!

Personal branding

• „Especially in a world that tells us to keep and promote a „personal brand”. We’re required to tell stories in order to sell our work and our talents, and after enough time, forget where the line is that separates our fiction from reality.” (S. 70)
• Brauche ich wirklich eine „personal brand”, oder ist meine, keine zu haben?
• Seth Godin sieht das wohl anders:
  • Wir sind alle Marketer.
  • Wenn wir unsere Sache voran bringen wollen, dann müssen wir das tun, was dazu nötig ist.
  • Dann müssen wir Geschichten über uns erzählen und ein public image von uns erzeugen.
  • Wir müssen unsere eigenen Publisher sein. Wenn wir das nicht übernehmen, wer übernimmt es dann?
  • Aber: Wir müssen strategisch und professionell handeln. Nicht unser ganzes Leben ist eine personal brand, sondern die Bereiche, “where we seek change”, “where we want to make a ruckus”.

Do you really understand just how much work there is going to be?

• „Sure, you get it. You know that all things require work and that work might be quite difficult. But do you reallyunderstand? Do you have any idea just how much work there is going to be? Not work until you get your big break, not work until you make a name for yourself, but work, work, work, forever and ever.” (S. 80)

Robert Greene: Alive Time or Dead Time

• „According to Greene, there are two types of time in our lives: dead time, when people are passive and waiting, and alive time, when people are learning and utilizing every second. Every moment of failure, every moment or situation that we did not deliberately choose or control, presents this choice: Alive time. Dead time. Which will it be?” (S. 171)
• Das ist besonders wichtig in Situationen, wo es nicht gut läuft. Wo es bärt.
• Eben dann geht es um die Frage: Muss ein dead end auch zu dead time führen? Oder gehe ich mit der Frage: What could this make possible?

Personal Project Pursuit

• „What matters to an active man is to do the right thing; whether the right thing comes to pass should not bother him.” (Goethe)
• „We have only minimal control over the rewards for our work and effort – other people’s validation, recognition, rewards. […] The less attached we are to outcomes the better. When fulfilling our own standards is what fills us with pride and self-respect. When the effort – not the results, good or bad – is enough.” (S. 178)

Passanten

• „Maybe your parents will never be impressed. Maybe your girlfriend won’t care. Maybe the investor won’t see the numbers. Maybe the audience won’t clap. But we have to be able to push through. We can’t let that be what motivates us.” (S. 179)

Erfolg anders denken

• „How do you carry on then? How do you take pride in yourself and your work? John Wooden’s advice to his players says it: Change the definition of success. „Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” (S. 180)

Merely do the work

• „Do your work. Do it well. Then ‚Let go and let God‘. That’s all there needs to be.” (S. 180)
• „Doing the work is enough.” (S. 181)
• „Face the symptoms. Cure the disease.” (S. 186)
  • Schau hin.
  • Tu, was notwendig ist.

Learn from other people’s mistakes

• „There is a quote from Bismark that says, in effect, any fool can learn from experience. The trick is to learn from other people’s experience.” (S. 216)

What will you do with this information

• „What will you do with this information? Not just now, but looking forward?” (S. 217)
• Ja, genau. Was verändert sich dadurch, dass ich dieses Buch gelesen habe?
• Wo hinterlässt dieses Buch Spuren bei mir? Größere und kleinere, drip by drip.

Auch Ryan Holiday steht auf den Schultern von Riesen

• „[I have tried] to make it clear how indepted I am to the many authors and thinkers I have relied on over the years. This book would not only be not possible without them, but I also feel incredibly guilty that readers might credit me for insights that originated with other, wiser writers. Anything valuable in this book came from them and not me.” (S. 225)