Is Your Ego What Is Holding You Back

“To be even minded is the greatest virtue”
If you totally dismissed the title of this article, then this is for you. We often like to think someone or society is holding us back from achieving our goals. We blame others for our problems. The reality is many times it’s our own ego keeping us from taking steps forward in life. Ego is our enemy.
What is ego? Ego is defined as “a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance”. How often in life have we let this be our downfall. In the gym, we put too much weight on the bar. We go into a job interview and think we know everything already. In our professional career, we become stagnant in our professional education. We let our ego get in the way of our ability to move forward in life. I see if all too often in the gym setting. Many feel they don’t need to do classes because they already “know” what they are doing. This is the novice’s curse. I like to remind people that Tom Brady, arguably the best quarterback of all time, has a coach. These also tend to be the people who talk the most. They have to let others know how much they know or what they have been through. I have been to many seminars (I hate when people call them certifications, you are there to learn not to be an expert) in my life and the most annoying people are the ones who have to let everyone know what they know and what they have learned in the past. One of the most humbling ones I have been to is the CrossFit Endurance seminar. I had the privilege of being in the class with Rich Fronning Jr., arguably the best CrossFitter ever. The most amazing thing coming from him was he never said a word during the whole weekend. He kept his mouth shut and ears open. he listened and participated during the whole weekend. We are talking about a man who had just won the CrossFit Games for a second straight year and could have easily skipped the weekend to train. His ability to humble himself and learn with the rest of us is what makes him the greatest in the world at what he does. Too many times I see coaches talk about things way beyond their areas of expertise or athletes feel they know more than the person coaching them. Ego is what is getting in the way of them achieving great things.
Our true potential is something that I believe we can never achieve. I believe we have the ability to do amazing things far beyond what we think we are capable of. The human brain is the most powerful supercomputer on the planet. The problem is we let our own ego get in the way and we stop learning or mastering our craft. As Heraclitus says, be even minded to allow yourself to learn and to grow. True greatness can only be achieved through constant learning!