When we want to achieve something in life, we can become so wrapped up on success that we experience an inflation in our egos. There’s nothing wrong with going wholeheartedly after the bold visions or dreams you have. In fact, that’s what it means to grow: you’re supposed to take risks, mess up, and learn from your mistakes. Ryan Holiday, author of Ego is the Enemy, writes, “The problem is that when we get our identity tied up in our work, we worry that any kind of failure will then say something bad about us as a person. It’s a fear of taking responsibility, of admitting that we might have messed up. It’s the sunk cost fallacy. And so we throw good money and good life after bad and end up making everything so much worse.”
