Ego is the Enemy

"The height of cultivation runs to simplicity."

- Bruce Lee

Insight: The best and most refined things are simple.

"It is impossible to learn that which one thinks one already knows"

- Epictetus

Insight: You cannot learn what you think you already know, or get better if you think you are the best.

• Reference: Aristotle's concept of the golden mean. His most famous pupil was Alexander the Great, who never grasped the concept, which ultimately led to his demise.
• Example: Courage is between cowardice and recklessness.
• Example: Generosity is between profligacy and parsimony.
• Insight: Where the golden mean actually is can often be hard to tell, but without it we risk dangerous extremes.
• Insight: We can use the golden mean to navigate ego and achieve meaningful outcomes. Endless ambition is easy and we can put our foot on the gas too much, complacency is also easy. Finding the middle ground is somewhere between the "undisciplined pursuit of more" (Jim Collins) and complacency that comes with plaudits.

• Insight: People make mistakes. Entrepreneurs take risks and sometimes fail. The problem comes when we fear taking responsibility for losses, and end up throwing good money and time after bad.