Comments? 888-563-3228 Question of the Month As I record this it is April 1. The first quarter of 2018 is over. What had you planned on doing in that first quarter that didn't, and what are you going to do differently to make it happen in this quarter. You can leave your answer using the options on the contact page I need your answer by April 26th. Defining Ego: The Good Side of Ego The Freudian definition of “ego” is simply, according to Wiktionary, “the most central part of the mind, which mediates with one’s surroundings.” So many people think that if you have an Ego, you're a narcissist. If you have an ego than you are conceited. You think you are better than others.  Ego literally means a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-worth. Doing anything new, like starting a podcast, or going against the norm, is directly proportional to how confident you are of yourselves and your abilities. As long as you are in control of your ego, it will work for you. But as soon as your ego starts controlling you, it will hurt you. When ego controls you, it can make the truth look false and the false look true. How To Identify Negative Sides of Your Ego When you are overwhelmed by your ego, you will say words you will regret, take actions you will repent later on, and hurt the people you love most. Your inflated ego can also make people lose trust and respect for you There is a quote by Deepak Chopra to sum it up – “If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyond your ego and the internal dialogue. Make a decision to relinquish the need to control, the need to be approved, and the need to judge. Those are the three things the ego is doing all the time. It’s very important to be aware of them every time they come up.” If you find yourself defending yourself, this may be due to a couple of reasons. You may actually be right (and you're trying to educate someone about your point of view) or your wrong and you are defending yourself as you are afraid of the ramifications if it is found out you are wrong. There is the old saying, you can be right or you can be married. I found this to be true. My ex-wife (note the ex) here are and I would battle for days because one wouldn't drop it, and the other wouldn't admit when they were wrong. The opposite of defensiveness is openness, and that means being open to new ideas. When you're not willing to even ponder another point of view, you may want to check yourself. If you do a solo show, you may want to take all of the adulations but that's just not true. Case in point, I record, edit, and post this show. I am the producer, host, editor, web designer, graphic designer. I do this show by myself. That appears true (it is), but I get feedback in the form of emails, speakpipe messages, Facebook likes, etc that help me steer this podcast in a direction that allows it to connect DEEPER with the people who find it. Thanks to my audience who when they hear someone talking podcasting say, "You need to listen to the School of Podcasting, " or "You need to join the School of Podcasting." I would be a fool to say the success of this show is 100% because of me. What Can Happen When You Put Your Ego Aside This episode was inspired by my going to a Michael Schenker concert. Who is Michael Shenker? Well, unless you are a guitar player of 30 you've probably never heard the name. To give you something to frame this in you probably have heard of Metallica (one of the most popular Heavy Metal bands of all time) their guitar player went 100% "Fanboy" upon meeting him and pulled strings (no pun intended) to play with him (see video).   Michael is touring under the name Michael Schenker Fest. Why? Because he is touring with four different singers. To all of you nonmusicians, there is a disease in music called LSD. It stands for Lead Singers Disease. As I look back at my 30 years of playing in (I started when I was 15) I can say the best singers also has the largest egos. Not sure if those are connected, but that's what