Summary

에고는 성취와 성장을 위한 기회를 빼앗는다. 이런 일이 일어나지 않도록 예방하는 방법은 여러 가지가 있다.

1. 에고의 마음으로 성공을 열망하거나 찾지 마라
2. 에고 없이 성공하라
3. 실패를 만났을 때는 에고가 아니라 당신의 근원적 힘으로써 돌파하라.

Ego takes away opportunities for achievement and growth. There are many ways to prevent this from happening.

1. Do not aspire to or seek success in the spirit of ego.

2. Success without ego.

3. When you meet failure, break through, not by ego but by your original power.

Introduction

• “The ego is the biggest obstacle and enemy” (p.25)

  This happens in whatever situation you are in, regardless of bad or good.

• The definition of ego in this book is “Unhealthy belief that self is the most important person” (자기 자신이 가장 중요한 존재라고 믿는 건강하지 못한 믿음) (p.26)

• 인간은 (a person)

  1. 성공을 열망하거나 (craves for success)
  2. 성공을 이루거나 (suceeds)
  3. 실패를 한다 (or fails)

• People with achievements knew how to control their egos.

  성취한 사람들은 그들의 에고를 관리하는 법을 알고 있었다.

Craving (열망)

• 본인의 재능에 사로잡혀 엄청난 확신과 자신감에 사로잡힌다면 그것이 당신의 에고다. 현실에 눈을 돌리고, 객관적으로 본인을 판단해야 한다. 이것부터 시작해야 한다. (p.38-47)

  If you are fully confident and convinced in your ability, that’s your ego. Turn eyes to the reality, and judge yourself objectively. You should start from there. (p.38-47)

• 세상은 당신에게 말을 하라고 부추긴다. 우리는 침묵이 힘이 없다고 가정한다. 그 일을 실제로 하거나 생각해야 하는 순간이 오지 않으면 그 전까지 말하지 말라. 말만 하고 하지 않는 경우가 태반이다. 그 말을 시작하는 것이 당신의 에고다. 말 하지 말고 조용히 준비하고, 다 되었으면 말하라. (p.49-54)

  The world encourages you to speak. We assume that silence is powerless. Don’t tell until the moment comes when you have to actually do or think about it. Most people just talk and don’t. It’s your ego that starts the word. Don’t speak and prepare silently. Once you are done, tell. (p.49-54)

• 당신에게 중요한 것은 당신인가, 아니면 당신의 목적인가? 당신이 중요하다면 사람들이 듣고 싶은 말만 하고, 승진을 잘 할 수 있는 커리어를 만들고, 통상적으로 재능 있는 사람들이 선택한 길을 가면 된다. 겉치레와 존재보다, 실제적인 획득과 행동을 하자. 인생에서 무엇을 이루고 싶은지를 생각하자. 어떤 사람이 되고 싶은지 말고.

  Is it you, or is it your purpose that matters to you? If you think you’re important, you just have to say what people want to hear, create a career where you can get a good promotion, and go the path where talented people usually go. Let us acquire and act in practice, rather than in appearance and existence. Think about what you want to achieve in life. Not who you want to be. (p.56-63)

• 배우는 것은 자신의 에고와 야망을 다른 사람에게 넘겨주는 행위. 더 많이 배워야 한다는 것을 쉽게 인정해야 한다. 모르면서도 아는 척 하면 개선할 수가 없다. 우리가 가지고 있는 것이 낡지 않도록 끊임없이 배워야 한다. 성공했을 때, ‘내가 필요한 자질과 능력이 있어서’ 성공했다고 생각하지 마라. 쓴소리가 당신을 발전시킨다.

  Learning is the act of handing over one’s own ego and ambitions to others. You have to easily admit that you have to learn more. If you pretend you don’t know, you can’t improve. We must learn constantly so that what we have is not worn out. When successful, don’t think of it as successful ‘because I have the qualities and abilities I need.’ Bitter comments improve you. (p.64-72)

• 열정(열광과 흥분에 더 가까운 듯) 대신 이성을 가지자. 차근차근 노력하여 성취하자. 열광이나 흥분으로 일하게 되면 바쁘게, 재밌게 지내다가 결국 아무것도 하지 못하게 된다. 목표를 수립하고 달성만 하자. (p.73-82)

  Have rationality instead of passion (or enthusiasm or excitement). Let’s try and achieve it step by step. When you work with enthusiasm or excitement, you get busy and end up doing nothing. Let’s just set goals and achieve them. (p.73-82)

• 다른 이를 섬기는 것이 좋지 않은 일은 아니다. 조직의 동료들에게 도움이 되는 방향을 생각하라. 내 주변 사람들이 나 대신 칭찬받고 우월한 입장에 서도록 내버려두라. 그들을 도와라. (p.83-92)

  It is not a bad thing to serve others. Think of a direction that will help your colleagues in the organization. Let the people around me be praised and superior in my place. Help them. (p.83-92)

• 자제할 줄 알자. 본인이 원하는 것을 달성하기 전까지, 부당한 처우나 상황이 있을지라도 참고 견뎌야 한다. 그 좋지 않은 시스템을 바꾸는 작업은 당신이 성공한 후에야 가능하다. 그 때까지 얌전히 기다리라. (p.93-101)

  Learn to control yourself. Until you achieve what you want, you have to endure even if there is an unfair treatment or situation. Changing that bad system is only possible after you succeed. Wait calmly until then. (p.93-101)

• 본인이 처한 현실을 직시하자. 본인이 원하거나 상상하는 것을 현실에 덧입히지 마라. 자기가 얼마나 멋지게 잘하고 있는지보다, 그 밑에 깔린 현실을 봐라. (p.102-109)

  Face the reality. Don’t add what you want or imagine to reality. Look at the reality underneath, rather than how wonderful you are doing. (p.102-109)

• 자만심은 발전의 가능성을 없애버린다. 굉장한 인물이 된 것처럼 생각하지 말고, 지금처럼 꾸준하게만 나아가라. (p.110-116)

Conceit removes the room for improvement. Don’t think like you’ve become a great figure, just go on as steady as you are now. (p.110-116)

• 아이디어를 가지고 있지 마라. 아이디어를 실현시키라. (p.117-123)

  Do not possess your idea. Realize it.

Success (성공)

• 성공을 제어할 수 있어야 한다. 성공은 사람을 취하게 만든다. 성공할 수 있었던 정황을 파악하고, 그것을 이어나가야 한다. (p.124-138)

  You must be able to control your success. Success makes a person drunk. We need to understand the circumstances in which we were able to succeed and continue with it. (p.124-138)

• 모든 사람에게서, 모든 사물과 상황으로부터 끊임없이 배워야 하고, 차용해야 한다. 예전의 관행보다 새롭게 알아낸 것이 좋다면 과감히 그것을 사용하라. (p.139-147)

  From all men, and from all things and circumstances, one must constantly learn and adopt. Use it boldly if you found out something better than the old practice. (p.139-147)

• 사소한 기준들을 지켜라. 위대한 프로젝트들도 처음엔 위대해지려는 계획조차 없었었으며, 작은 것으로 시작했고, 작은 것을 유지하려고 했다. 우리가 이 자리에 오기까지 해 왔던 작은 일들을 잘 유지하자.

  Observe the minor criteria. Great projects had not even planned to be great at first, but started with small things, and tried to keep small things. Let’s keep up with the little things we’ve done to get here. (156)

• 내가 무엇을 달성하고 싶고, 무엇을 원하는지 확실하게 정의하고 인지해야 한다. (p.157-165)

  You must clearly define and recognize what I want to achieve and what I want. (p.157-165)

• 당신을 성공으로 이끌어 준 그 확신과 노력을 계속 믿는 순간 그것이 다시 당신을 실패로 이끌 수도 있다. (p.166-170)

  The moment you continue to believe in that conviction and effort that led you to success, it may lead you to failure again. (p.166-170)

• 모든 것이 자기 방식대로 이루어져야 한다는 사고방식은 성공으로 이르지 못하게 한다 (p.171-172)

  The idea that everything should be done in its own way does not lead to success.(p.171-172)

• 리더가 되었다면, 책임져야 하는 내용과 방식이 바뀐다. 실행하는 데 들어가는 시간은 줄어들고, 의사결정에 들어가는 시간이 늘어난다. 본인의 직무가 바뀌고 있는 중이기 때문에 자신을 재평가하고 발전시켜야 한다. (p.173-181)

  If you become a leader, the content and method of responsibility change. The time spent on implementation is reduced, and the time spent on decision-making is increased. You must reevaluate and develop yourself because your duties are changing. (p.173-181)

• 본인의 이름을 남기기 위해 성공을 추구하지 마라. 에고는 명성을 얻고 싶어 하지만 무시하라. 사심이 없는 성실함은 성공에 데려다 준다. (p.182-189)

  Don’t seek success to leave your own name. Ego wants to gain fame but ignore it. Unselfish sincerity takes you to success. (p.182-189)

• 나 자신은 우주의 극히 일부분이라는 것을 기억하라. 내가 만들어내는 결과도 우주의 극히 일부분에 불과하다. (p.190-196)

  Remember that I myself am a tiny part of the universe. The results I produce are only a fraction of the universe. (p.190-196)

• 권력, 돈, ‘이미 성공함’ 등은 냉철한 판단을 방해한다. 자기 이미지에 집착하지 말고, 특별대우를 바라지 말고, 엄청나게 중요한 인물로 스스로 생각하지 마라. 세상에 드러나려고 애쓰지 마라. 다만 냉철하게 본인 일에 임하면 성공을 이룬다. (p.197-204)

  Power, money, and ‘being already successful’ interfere with sober judgment. Don’t be obessessed with your image, don’t expect special treatment, don’t think of yourself as an incredibly important person. Don’t try to expose yourself to the world. However, if you do your job cool-headedly, you will achieve success. (p.197-204)

실패 (Failure)

• 실패했을 때 에고는 당신이 해결하지 못할 것이고, 해결하지 않아도 충분히 편하게 살 수 있다고 유혹할 것이다. 당신은 그것을 무시하고 현실을 받아들여 문제를 해결해야 한다. (p.214-227)

  When you fail, Ego will tempt you to not solve it, and to live comfortably enough without solving it. You must ignore it and accept reality and solve the problem. (p.214-227)

• 죽어버린 (내가 무언가만을 기다리며, 일어나기만을 바라는, 수동적으로 존재하는) 시간 대신 살아 있는 (무엇이든 배우고 행동하며 1분1초를 아끼려는) 시간을 보내라. (p.228-234)

  Spend time living (to learn, act and save a minute and a second) instead of dead time (who only waits for something, only wants to wake up passively). (p.228-234)

• 당신에게 주어진 일을 잘만 하고, 열심히 해라. 인정받고 보상받지 못할 수도 있지만, 그것은 에고가 바라는 것일 뿐이다 (p.235-243)

  Do well on the work given to you, and do your best. It may not be recognized and rewarded, but it is only what Ego wants.(p.235-243)

• 실패와 고통을 직면해라. 그 순간 당신은 더 강해진다 (p.244-250)

  Face failure and pain. At that moment, you get stronger.(p.244-250)

• 에고는 실패를 인정하지 못하게 만든다. 자기가 실패를 만들었다는 것을 인정하고, 다시 한 번 재기하라 (p.251-260)

  Ego makes failure unacceptable. Admit that you have made a failure, and make another comeback (p.251-260)

• 당신을 향한 시선과 말들, 피드백을 증오와 분노 대신 열린 마음으로 받아들이라. 그리고 다른 이에게 꼬장부리지 마라. (p.270-278)

  Accept the perspectives, words, and feedback toward you with an open mind instead of hatred and anger. And don’t be cocky to others.(p.270-278)

Impressions after finishing this book

The ways to survive in whichever contexts are very similar.

I’ve read this book called Deep Survival like a year ago:

And the advices given from this book are very much similar to what’s told by Ego is The Enemy as well. I think successful principles related to survival in whatever contexts are just similar. For example, in Deep Survival, these are 12 key principles outlined by Gonzales:

1. Perceive and Believe. Don’t fall into the deadly trap of denial or of immobilizing fear. Admit it: You’re really in trouble and you’re going to have to get yourself out.

2. Stay Calm – Use Your Anger In the initial crisis, survivors are not ruled by fear; instead, they make use of it. Their fear often feels like (and turns into) anger, which motivates them and makes them feel sharper.

3. Think, Analyze, and Plan. Survivors quickly organize, set up routines, and institute discipline.

4. Take Correct, Decisive Action. Survivors are willing to take risks to save themselves and others. But they are simultaneously bold and cautious in what they will do. They handle what is within their power to deal with from moment to moment, hour to hour, day to day.

5. Celebrate your success. Survivors take great joy from even their smallest successes. This helps keep motivation high and prevents a lethal plunge into hopelessness. Viktor Frankl put it this way: “Don’t aim at success–the more you aim at it and make it a target,the more you are going to miss it.”

6. Enjoy the Survival Journey. It may seem counterintuitive, but even in the worst circumstances, survivors find something to enjoy, some way to play and laugh. Survival can be tedious, and waiting itself is an art.

7. See the Beauty. Survivors are attuned to the wonder of their world, especially in the face of mortal danger. The appreciation of beauty, the feeling of awe, opens the senses to the environment. (When you see something beautiful, your pupils actually dilate.) When Saint-Exupery’s plane went down in the Lybian Desert, he was certain that he was doomed, but he carried on in this spirit: “Here we are, condemned to death, and still the certainty of dying cannot compare with the pleasure I am feeling. The joy I take from this half an orange which I am holding in my hand is one of the greatest joys I have ever known.” At no time did he stop to bemoan his fate, or if he did, it was only to laugh at himself.

8. Believe That You Will Succeed. It is at this point, following what I call “the vision,” that the survivor’s will to live becomes firmly fixed.

9. Surrender. Yes you might die. In fact, you wil die–we all do. But perhaps it doesn’t have to be today. Don’t let it worry you.

10. Do Whatever Is Necessary

11. Never Give Up If you’re still alive, there is always one more thing that you can do.

This is written clearly in the Korean version of the book too:

And just take your time to digest the first few principles. You will notice right away, that they are really just sentences paraphrased from:

Face the reality. Don’t add what you want or imagine to reality. Look at the reality underneath, rather than how wonderful you are doing. (p.102-109)

If you are fully confident and convinced in your ability, that’s your ego. Turn eyes to the reality, and judge yourself objectively. You should start from there. (p.38-47)

Right? You will notice more and more similarities as you read these two books in parallel.

So what I want to conclude from here is that the underlying principles on survival, regardless of whether it’s about the survival of a life, or a startup, or a worker at a company, … are always the same. Realize the reality, don’t deceive yourself, always put you at work, forget about who you want to be and think about what you want and should do instead, …

Anyways, that was an interesting theory.

Another thought that came to my mind while I was reading this book(Ego is The Enemy), is that its values conflict with some book I read before, which is 꿈꾸는 다락방. The focal point of the author in this book is a bit drastic: if you keep dreaming on something, you will earn or achieve it, leading to that famous equation (only in S.Korea) of R=VD, which means Realization = Vivid Dream. This book does not really prevent you from, nor encourages you to do the real thing, which is the entire point made by Ego is The Enemy. And people say this a lot as well: ‘Dream your dream. Do not lose it. Then you are going to be able to achieve it.’

I think both are quite valid assertions because each of them has its own consolidate grounds. I think it would be a challenge for me to have a good mix of the two, because why not have the best of both worlds? I can try this: facing and tackling the problems in reality, and dreaming of the future at the same time.

Written by Joel Mun. Joel likes Typescript, React, Node.js, GoLang, Python, Wasm and more. He also loves to enlarge the boundaries of his knowledge, mainly by reading books and watching lectures on Youtube. Guitar and piano are necessities at his home.