Ego can be defined as the sense of superiority and certainty that exceeds the bounds of confidence and talent. It's when the notion of ourselves and the world grows so inflated that it begins to distort the reality that surrounds us.

At any given time in life, people find themselves at one of three stages.<ul><li>We are aspiring to something - trying to make a dent in the universe.</li><li>We have achieved success - perhaps a little, perhaps a lot.</li><li>Or we have failed - recently or continually.</li></ul>Ego is the enemy every step along this way.

Understanding Ego in Different Stages of Life

When we are striving for something it's a temptation that exists for everyone - for talk and hype to replace action. At the beginning of any path, we are excited and nervous. So we seek to comfort ourselves externally instead of inwardly. This side we call ego.

Talk and Hype to Replace Action

We seem to think that silence is a sign of weakness. That being ignored is tantamount to death and for ego, this is true. Research shows that while goal visualization is important, after a certain point our mind begins to confuse it with actual progress.

Misconception Regarding Silence

If your purpose is something larger than you - to accomplish something, to prove something to yourself - then suddenly everything becomes both easier and harder. Easier in the sense that you know now what it is you need to do and what is important to you. Harder because each opportunity - no matter how gratifying or rewarding - must be evaluated along strict guidelines: Does this help me do what I have set out to do?

To Be or To Do

We don't like thinking that someone is better than us or that we have a lot left to learn. For this reason, updating your appraisal of your talents in a downward direction is one of the most difficult things to do in life - it is always the component of mastery.

Become a Student

The pretense of knowledge is our most dangerous vice, because it prevents us from getting any better. Studious self-assessment is the antidote.

Ira Glass states that all of us who do creative work . . . we get into it because we have good taste. But it's like there's a gap, that for the first couple years that you are making stuff, what you are making isn't so good . . . It's really not that great. It's trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it's not quite that good. But your taste - the thing that got you into the game - your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enought that you can tell that what you are making is kind of a disappointment to you.

Taste/Talent Gap

In this taste/talent gap situation, ego can seem comforting. Who wants to look at themselves and their work and find it does not measure up? And so here we might bluster our way through. Or, we can face our shortcomings honestly and put the time in. We can let this humble us, see clearly where we are talented and where we need to improve, and then put in the work to bridge that gap.

Ego in Taste/Talent Gap Situation

Success is intoxicating, yet to sustain it requires sobriety. We can't keep learning if we think we already know everything. We can't buy into myths we make ourselves, or the noise and chatter of the outside world.

Ego in Success

Too often convinced of own intelligence, we stay in a comfort zone that we never feel stupid and are never challenged to learn or reconsider what we know. It obscures from view various weknesses in our understanding, until eventually it's too late to change course.

Ego Driven Resistance

We start out knowing what is important to us, but once we have achieved it, we lose sight of our priorities. All of us regularly say yes unthinkingly, or out of vague attraction, or out of greed or vanity. We think "yes" will let us accomplish more, when in reality it prevents exactly what we seek. Ego rejects trade offs. Why? Ego wants it all.

Ego Driven Distractions

Accordoing to Seneca, the Greek word euthymia meaning tranquility is one we should think of often: it is the sense of own path and how to stay on it without getting distracted by all the others that intersect it.

Seneca's Euthymia

One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important.

Remove the Hat of Entitlement

In most cases, we think that people become successful through sheer energy and enthusiasm. We almost excuse ego because we think it's part and parcel of the personality required to "make it big". Maybe a bit of over-poweringness is what got you where you are. But let's ask: Is it really sustainable for the next several decades? Can you really outwork and outrun everyone forever?

Maintain Sobriety

No one is permanently successful, and not everyone finds success on the first attempt. We all deal with setbacks along the way. Ego not only leaves us unprepared for these circumstances, it often contributed to their occurence in the first place. If success is ego intoxication then failure can be a devastating blow.

Ego in Failure

The way through, the way to rise again, requires a reorientation and increased self-awareness. We don't need pity - our own or anyone else's - we need purpose, poise and patience. It's far better when doing good work is sufficient. In other words, the less attached we are to outcome is better.

Failure is Part of the Process

What matters to an active man is to do the right thing; whether the right thing comes to pass should not bother him.

The instant Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and international bestseller “While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive visionary geniuses who remade the world in their image with sheer, almost irrational force, I’ve found that history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition.” —from the prologue Many of us insist the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. At every stage, ego holds us back. Ego Is the Enemy draws on a vast array of stories and examples, from literature to philosophy to his­tory. We meet fascinating figures such as George Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Katharine Graham, Bill Belichick, and Eleanor Roosevelt, who all reached the highest levels of power and success by con­quering their own egos. Their strategies and tactics can be ours as well. In an era that glorifies social media, reality TV, and other forms of shameless self-promotion, the battle against ego must be fought on many fronts. Armed with the lessons in this book, as Holiday writes, “you will be less invested in the story you tell about your own specialness, and as a result, you will be liberated to accomplish the world-changing work you’ve set out to achieve.”

philosophy

Philosophy

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

books

Books

The instant Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and international bestseller “While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive visionary geniuses who remade the world in their image with sheer, almost irrational force, I’ve found that history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition.” —from the prologue   Many of us insist the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. At every stage, ego holds us back.   Ego Is the Enemy draws on a vast array of stories and examples, from literature to philosophy to his­tory. We meet fascinating figures such as George Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Katharine Graham, Bill Belichick, and Eleanor Roosevelt, who all reached the highest levels of power and success by con­quering their own egos. Their strategies and tactics can be ours as well.   In an era that glorifies social media, reality TV, and other forms of shameless self-promotion, the battle against ego must be fought on many fronts. Armed with the lessons in this book, as Holiday writes, “you will be less invested in the story you tell about your own specialness, and as a result, you will be liberated to accomplish the world-changing work you’ve set out to achieve.”

Ryan Holiday is media strategist for notorious clients like Tucker Max and Dov Charney. After dropping out of college at 19 to apprentice under the strategist Robert Greene, he went on to advise many bestselling authors and multi-platinum musicians. He is the Director of Marketing at American Apparel, where his work in advertising was internationally known. His strategies are used as case studies by Twitter, YouTube, and Google, and have been written about in AdAge, the New York Times, Gawker, and Fast Company. He is the author is *Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator*, which is due out in July. He currently lives in New Orleans, with his rebellious puppy, Hanno.

Ryan Holiday

Ego Is the Enemy

There are some kinds of work that you can't do well without thinking differently from your peers. A scientist can make the most impact if his or her ideas are correct as well as novel. An essay will be more interesting if the essayist has something unique to say. An investor will find room to make money if he or she has some insights that the market hasn't quite figured out. In most cases, a startup finds success in doing things that are deemed as bad idea.

Independent-Mindedness

But this pattern isn't universal. In fact, it doesn't hold for most kinds of work. In most kinds of work — to be an administrator, for example — all you need is to be right. It's not essential that everyone else be wrong. And here the distinction between independent-mindedness and conventional mindedness comes into play while choosing the work that fits you.

Nature of Independent Mindedness and Conventional Mindedness 

Understanding where you fall in the spectrum from conventional to independent-minded can be tricky. Conventional-minded people don't like to think of themselves as conventional-minded. And the independent-minded, meanwhile, are often unaware how different their ideas are from conventional ones, at least till they state them publicly. But in most cases, if you're naturally independent-minded, you're going to find it frustrating to be a middle manager. And if you're naturally conventional-minded, you're going to be sailing into a headwind if you try to do original research.

Find Your Place

Some strategies to follow to cultivate independent-mindedness:<ul><li>Be less aware what conventional beliefs are. It's hard to be a conformist if you don't know what you're supposed to conform to.</li><li>Surround yourself with independent-minded people. Hearing other people say surprising things will encourage you to express your ideas and think of more of them. </li><li>Read history. You can expand the source of influences in time as well as space, by reading history.</li><li>Cultivate an attitude of skepticism. Take upon yourself the burden of evaluating what others say. </li></ul>

Can You Make Yourself More Independent-Minded?

When I read history I do it not just to learn what happened, but to try to get inside the heads of people who lived in the past. How did things look to them? This is hard to do, but worth the effort for the same reason it's worth travelling far to triangulate a point.

According to Paul Graham, internal structure of independent-mindedness has three components: fastidiousness about truth, resistance to being told what to think, and curiosity.

Internal Structure of Independent-Mindedness

Fastidiousness about truth means more than just not believing things that are false. It means being careful about degree of belief.

Fastidiousness About Truth

In the most independent-minded people, the desire not to be told what to think is a positive force. It's not mere skepticism, but an active delight in ideas that subvert the conventional wisdom, the more counter intuitive the better.

Resistance to Being Told What to Think

The third component of independent-mindedness, curiosity, may be the most interesting. To the extent that we can give a brief answer to the question of where novel ideas come from, it's curiosity. That's what people are usually feeling before having them.

Curiosity

First, you want to avoid situations that suppress curiosity. The most important active step you can take to cultivate your curiosity is probably to seek out the topics that engage it. Few adults are equally curious about everything. It's up to you to find your niche that sparks curiosity the most.

Cultivate Curiosity

If your goal is to discover novel ideas, your motto should not be "do what you love" so much as "do what you're curious about."

education

Learning & Education

business

Business

How to Think for Yourself

Alipay is the largest mobile payment platform in the world.

How Ant Financial (Alipay) Makes Money

<ul><li>The company started as a trusted payment option for shoppers and merchants of Alibaba. It worked as an escrow account, transferring money to sellers after buyers had received their products.</li><li>Later Alipay app was launched, introduced QR code for payments.</li></ul>

Beginning

Alipay earns around 0.1% per transaction which is less than what banks earn on debit-card swipes.

Payment Business 

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Because of Alipay's sheer volume in payment business, it found advantage of key resource "DATA" to drive its other businesses.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Alipay app started as mere payment app but expanded its branches to different segments namely credit, asset management and insurance.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Recently its credit wing overtook its payment business. </li></ul>

Other Businesses 

<ul><li>Alipay began consumer lending in 2014. Soon it captured 15% share of China's consumer lending market.</li><li>Initially, it made the loans and then packaged them as securities, sold to other financial institutions. Regulators imposed restriction on the securitization.</li><li>Later, Alipay changed its credit business model. It now identifies and assesses borrowers, but passes them on to banks which extend the loans. Alipay collects a technology service fee.</li></ul>

Ant Took Over Consumer Loan Market

<ul><li>Ant's third and fourth revenue stream is its asset management and insurance business.</li><li>Third Leg (Asset Management): Merchants or shoppers with cash in Alipay could get small return by parking it in a money market fund. Later Ant broadened its offerings turning it into China's most powerful distribution channels for investments.</li><li>Fourth Leg (Insurance): Partnering with insurance firms, Ant is collecting fees as a distribution platform.</li></ul>

Asset Management and Insurance Business 

Alipay is indispensable in China. However, recent suspension of its IPO and antitrust investigation into Alibaba brought new regulatory challenges for the company.

Regulatory Landscape 

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

startup

Startups

Understanding Alipay’s Business

We are always asking the question “what’s next” in our head. Our intuitive thinking aka “System 1” guides us for the actions we do repeatedly. Outcomes of these actions are mostly known. And then we come across situations where there are lots of unknowns. Be it a project you are starting out or a company you are investigating in for investment purpose, you want to forecast.&nbsp;We don’t want to jump into conclusion here.

When We Think Fast and Slow

Inside view informs you about the capacity and resources you have while outside view takes you to a reference point (e.g. success rate of others in the same project with same level of capacity and resources) which gives you an indication of where the ballpark is. From there, you can take your forecast forward. Inside view blinds you to all the external and situational aspects while outside view lends you different dimensions to look from.&nbsp;

Inside View and Outside View

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Inside View and Outside View in Decision Making

Cash flow statement demonstrates the flow of cash coming into a business and going out from a business through operating activities, investing activities and financing activities. Unlike income statement it doesn’t record any transaction that doesn’t involve cash like sale on credit.

What Is Cash Flow Statement?

Operating activities record cash transactions related to the daily operation like cash payment to suppliers, employees and cash receipt from customers.

Operating Activities

Investing activities record purchasing and selling of long term assets and other investments including purchase of property, plant, equipment, invest in intangible assets, acquisition of another company, investment in equity and debt securities etc.

Investing Activities

Financing activities include obtaining or repaying capital from or to shareholders and creditors. A company can obtain capital from issuing common stock, right shares or debt instruments like bonds. These items are recorded in this segment. Cash outflows include cash payments to repurchase stock (e.g., treasury stock) and to repay bonds and other borrowings.

Ego Is the Enemy

How to Think for Yourself

Understanding Alipay’s Business

Inside View and Outside View in Decision Making

What to Look for in a Cash Flow Statement

Md. Nazmus Sakib