What is success? Just think about it.

If everyone is rich, who is rich? If everyone is famous, how can you be famous? If everyone is equally good at their job, what does it mean to be good or bad at your job? The notion of success becomes meaningless.

The notion of success is fundamentally based on comparison. There cannot be any successful people without unsuccessful people. If everyone is successful, no one is successful, because no one is unsuccessful.

If you think you’re successful at something, it means you look around and find people that you think are worse than you at this thing, the less successful. It’s the only way it can be.

So yes, ego creates success, but not as a drive to do something but as a mental notion in your head. When you stop comparing yourself to other people, the notion of success disappears. You can enjoy doing something without caring how well others do it. But if you care how you stand in comparison to others in something, you may be driven to do more of it to become better, even if you lost taste for it already. That’s silly.

So, your ego creates the idea of success, for you. When you just do what you love, success is irrelevant. Now, other people may still view you as successful or unsuccessful, but it’s their problem, not yours. It’s their egos’ notion of success, and it’s different for every person.