4 min read
“Why Ego Can Actually Make You Stronger”
Introduction
If you’re coming from the recent video we posted on the GG YouTube Channel, then you’ll be aware of our “ego” post, featuring a scene from Blue Lock.
Now by all means, I’m no real anime fan, or weeb. I never really was. It wasn’t until I discovered OPM and Blue Lock that I actually figured that anime wasn’t too bad. My whole life, I thought anime was trash and not worth the watch. Turns out, I was wrong. Some animes are respectful exceptions.
And that episode to which I refer myself to is what gave me the idea for this post. Traditionally, we think of ego as a negative trait that makes us selfish and cruel. It gives us that unique category of being the “lone wolf” or “taking whatever we set our eyes upon”. Although that idea might be engrained in your mind, I’m here to tell you that there’s actually more to ego than you’ve been told all your life. And it’s no secret at all. It’s all over the place, just that you never actually looked at it directly and clearly enough to see the truth.
Ego makes the most successful people who they are (when they achieve success). Without ego, they feel that there are obstacles that can legitmately take them down and stop them in their path. But with ego, you feel unstoppable to a certain extent. You feel a certain kind of energy, a certain kind of confidence; nothing could get in your way. No matter how hard you’re beaten down and striked in the face and gut, you will not stand down.
That’s ego.
Ego Was Never An Enemy
Our whole lives, we’re told that ego is really just cockiness. If you’re someone who’s cocky, you are self-centered and think the world revolves around you. And, for the most part, I used to agree (and still somewhat do) with this statement. Too much ego makes you too cocky; and that makes you unlikeable and resistive to any sense. If you played a videogame with a friend who felt that they were losing primarily because of something YOU were doing wrong, rather than themselves, that’s a great example of over-excessive ego. It makes you a person no one wants to be around.
However, ego also makes us confident. It makes us want to go after challenges and goals that others think are too crazy. It makes us more ambitious and resistant to the possibility of losing. It’s not my fault, it’s yours.
My Lesson To You
A few months ago, someone introduced me to Blue Lock, an anime show about football and a player named Isagi who wants to fulfill his dream of playing for his national team: Japan. I’ve known about Blue Lock since it first came out (like 2 or 3 years ago), but I never actually watched it; although I knew I probably would’ve liked it.
Blue Lock, however, is different from other traditional animes. It’s absolutely entertaining and the animation (at least for season 1) is amazing. I’m no critic of animation, so if you have a different opinion, don’t get mad. But, in all other aspects, the show is great. And, it taught me something else: ego, although perceived as a negative trait, is actually not so negative.
What I’m Talking About
I’m describing this scene purely to explain and visualize what I mean here. I want you to understand this as well as I first did when I watched it (with me only realizing now how critical it truly is).
The main character, Yoichi Isagi, is a young football player who’s playing in a tournament for the possibility of getting himself and his team into the nationals. As he’s approaching the goal, he sees a teammate next to him (completely alone, with no one covering him), and he decides to pass to him. Logical choice, correct? After all, for his entire career, he’s been told that everyone works as a team. No one sole player is responsible for carrying the backs of everyone. A team is cohesive and united. And if he didn’t pass, and he went for the shot, and missed, you could bet everything you’ve got that he would be full of much more regret.
His teammate receives the ball, shoots, and hits the post. The ball bounces back to the opposition, and they form a counter; and score a second goal to solidify their victory. Isagi and his team lost; although not by much, they still lost.
Isagi spends the next few hours in regret, thinking “what if I just took the shot?”. He was open, with a clear shot on goal, but there was a defender behind him, and so passing it to his teammate just seemed like a better option. This is where we get into ego. Isagi not only was told basically all his life to work as a team and pass whenever necessary, but also didn’t have enough confidence to believe in himself and take the shot. He refused to shoot, and paid the price.
Turning Point
Later that day, that same day by the way, Isagi receives a letter in the mail about some football union or proposition of some kind. He’s supposed to go to some location, and there, he arrives at some secret establishment where they will be taken to some special secret place called “Blue Lock”. It’s a football training facility with the goal of creating the best striker in the world. A man, on a stage in the building, presents this concept and tells everyone that the last one to leave will leave the greatest forward in football history. Seems a little too promising, right?
Well of course it seems that way. And that’s what happens. People begin to question and are filled with doubts. And that same man decides to step it up a notch. And that’s where he makes the speech. He describes how unlike other national teams, his country’s team lacks something crucial that no one is willing to acknowledge: you need ego to succeed.
If you don’t have the ego to take the shot, make the risky play, risk everything just to make one play and potentially score, you are no striker. If you don’t have the ego to make the play and play in perfect unison yet complexity with your team, you are no striker. You need to lead the team, and score the goal that no one else can.
A Reminder
You might play football. You might not. But if you were in the same position as Isagi, what would you have done? Would you have taken the shot? Or would your instincts and ingrained lessons on football force you to pass? Does it matter more that they missed and you didn’t, but you still ended up losing?
Ego gives us the mental strength we need to feel on top of the world, and allows us to push through and beam through any obstacle that stands in our way. If you don’t believe in yourself, and no one else does either, what else do you have left? If there’s no one else to take the shot, and all you’ve got is you, what does it matter that your ego is your source of fuel?
So, here is my question again: what would you have done? To tell you the truth, I really don’t even know if I would’ve taken the shot. By all means, it’s no easy decision. If everyone, across your entire life, tells you that you need to pass and you need to work as a team, why differ? It’s hard to be different, but the reward when executed properly is beyond your wildest dreams.
Real-World Application
So how can you take this advice and use it in your daily life? Well, I’ll tell you.
The next time you do something that involves you working towards a goal or fighting one-on-one with a challenge, just think: “If no one else will, then I’ll be the best.” It sounds cocky and annoying, that’s the point. It sounds way cooler in my head though since I’m imaging it in Iron Fist’s voice. If you know, you know.
Whether you apply this advice when you work on a new task, or when you’re actually in a sports competition, or as you try to improve your ability to make videos or stand out; whatever it is, embrace the inevitability that you can become the best. It will suck. That’s the point.
Conclusion
Having a strong and indestructible ego is good, although everyone tells us it’s not. Be the one to take the first step in the forward direction. Be the one who simply refuses to quit, who transforms himself into new versions of himself every day, and who can become stronger and better than everyone else. Persevere, learn, be more! You are the only one standing in your own way.
