The path of ambition is dangerous, and people succumb to their go, not listening to people inferior to them, and criticizing mentors who taught them a lot of things that enable them to reach this stage in life. Human by nature is selfish and greedy, and sometimes they even bite the hands that have fed them due to ego and feeling of self-sufficiency and over-confidence which make them blind to the fact that we depend on each other. People on the path of ambition make blunders that they regret later, and what they are about to achieve gets delayed owing to their arrogance and ego.
KEY POINTS:
- An egomaniac loses his temper which creates problems for him.
- Pleasure leads people astray from their life’s tasks.
- Those who succumb to pain lose the battle of life.
- Flatterers are deceivers whose words are venom for egomaniacs.
Temper:
Humans’ temper can destroy what they have built over years; they take their frustration out on others due to their ego, which they regret later, but what has been done cannot be changed. An egomaniac cannot tolerate words against them, they want to hear exactly what they are thinking, but everyone has different views which leads to contradictions and arguments. We need to listen to others and reflect on their views which may be helpful for us since we are blind to many things, and we have no knowledge about them, which can be explored through discussions with others, and opposing views should be welcomed, rather condemned. On the path of ambition, diverse views should be accepted, and when we sense our work needs improvement, we should improve it, put it to public scrutiny, and keep working on it till it becomes a masterpiece. Losing temper lags us behind in our fields.
Pleasure:
Pleasure is a sin, and sins have consequences that lead to a miserable life. On the path to ambition, an egomaniac succumbs to pleasure and deviates from his path leading to a dead end due to the fact that he believes he is complete now, and he does not need to thrive ahead in life. Once we feel complete, our progress stops, everything becomes stagnant since life is in constant flux, and as Marcus said we are not as we were yesterday since we change with each passing day. The thoughts of completion restrict us, put chains into our hands and feet, and we just stay where we are, while others progress with time since we are not as curious as we were, and we realize it when we see others getting ahead. We derive pleasure from the silly idea that we are complete, and we fall prey to our comforts.
“It was their sense of reality and awareness—one that the author and strategist Robert Greene once said we must take to like a spider in its web— that was at the core of their great art, great writing, great design, great business, great marketing, and great leadership.”
Pain:
On the path to ambition, hardships are expected since a smooth path to success is an illusion, and when an egomaniac faces setbacks, he puts blame on others for his problems, which further aggravates things for him. Pain is a part of life, and embracing it wholeheartedly makes us strong, and we grow resilient and are willing to accept precarious situations. Putting blames on others, whining and complaining, just escalating things, better coping with whatever comes our way, and learning to live with chaos.
“Not that Sherman was always the perfect model of restraint and order. Early in the war, tasked with defending the state of Kentucky with insufficient troops, his mania and tendency to doubt himself combined in a wicked way. Ranting and raving about being undersupplied, unable to get out of his own head, paranoid about enemy movements, he broke form and spoke injudiciously to several newspaper reporters.”
Flatterers:
An egomaniac is always deceived by flatterers, they tell him what he wants to hear, which makes him feel confident and superior over others. Flatterers are deceivers who lead egomaniacs astray from their actual path and get what they want from them. On the path to ambition, avoiding flatterers is crucial since they try to boost your ego, and once your ego is high, you believe you are the one, and you do not need others in your life, which leads to your fall.
“When, as the football coach Bill Walsh explained, “self-confidence becomes arrogance, assertiveness becomes obstinacy, and self-assurance becomes reckless abandon.”
Conclusion:
People who have ago often get stuck on the path to success due to their overconfidence, ego, and arrogance; they succumb to pleasure, pain, temper, and the words of flatterers. Avoiding pleasure, embracing pain, controlling temper, and ignoring praising words will make the path of ambition easy and fun.
References:
- Holiday, R. (2019). Ego is the Enemy. Elex media komputindo.