I was recently instructed by my gym trainer to go slow and avoid ego lifting. I have had never been to a gym before.
So, these instructions, this language and everything related to it is foreign to me.
It took me a couple of weeks to realize what he meant by ego lifting after being its victim.
I started with about five pounds of dumb bells. It was not very difficult. I did three sets of 15 reps. I thought I aced at it.
He gave me a few instructions on posture and form. But who really wants to listen cautionary tales while finding oneself on the top of the world.
I was really happy for the first two – three weeks. I thought how stupid I was that I missed this wonderful thing for this long.
In the beginning of the third week, I doubled the weight of my dumb bells. I felt really good about it.
I even told one of my friends who has never been to a gym and he praised me for it.
I was happy to talk about it. I shared my experience with a few friends and acquaintances who spend 70% of their waking life sitting in their office chairs.
They mostly praised me for my efforts.
But by the end of the fourth week, I begin to feel some kind of pain in my left elbow.
Initially, it wasn’t much. Therefore, I keep on pulling more weights than my first week.
But by seventh and eighth week, it made me visit a physiotherapist who asked if I am lifting more weight than I should?
I said, “I am able to life about 10 pounds of dumbbell.”
He said, “okay, very well.”
And then he directed me to a corner where he placed a couple of dumb bells.
He asked me to pick a 10 pounds dumb bell and do a set of 15 reps.
I thought okay and I begin to do it.
But as soon as I had finished my third rep, he asked me to place the dumb bell back in the corner where it was before.
And then he asked about how much weight I was pulling in 10 weeks before.
I said that I only joined four weeks before and begun with five pounds dumb bell.
He asked me that why did I just doubled my weight within two weeks.
I said that it felt great to grow rapidly. Then after a moment of silence, I said, “I felt really embarrassing to use 5 pounds dumb bells when everyone around me lifting 40 – 50 pounds dumb bells. So, I increased.”
Hearing this, he replied, “That’s called Ego lifting. It means that you lift according to your inflated ego than the actual capacity of your body. It harms you more. It can cause injury in muscle, ligament and tendons.”
He suggested me a couple of ways to perfect my form & posture and leave my ego out of gym.
Coming back home, I was thinking more deeply about ‘Ego Lifting’ but I was not thinking about it in the context of gym but workplace.
If you want to read more about how you can stop ego lifting, read this wonderful article.
What’s Ego Lifting at Workplace?
Let’s get back to ‘Ego Lifting’ at workplace’.
I am a guy who has worked in multinational organizations for more than twelve years.
I know it is not much. But I have had my fair share of corporate battles. And with each battle, you inch closure to madness, if not your untimely death.
In workplace context, this madness is total burnout, chronic stress and severe mental health issues.
But how does it all begins. I will say – ‘very nicely’.
Imagine yourself as a guy in his early twenties, joining a corporate organization, fresh out of college.
You don’t understand its business, conflicts, challenges, hierarchical structure, and what is exactly expected of you.
In the beginning, everyone is nice to you. You feel valued and respected in your organization.
You may even find yourself praising & thanking your boss and workplace in front of your senior colleagues.
It’s usually called a honeymoon period. It could last from a few weeks to six months, depending upon the organization.
But as soon as you finish your first few months, you begin to get tasks which you find challenging for your expertise level.
However, in stead of conveying the same to your manager, you go on do heavy lifting.
You don’t say a thing because you have a new found reputation to save in front of your boss and colleagues.
The months went by adjusting to ever increasing workload. You turn from a freshly minted new joiner to a five-year-old employee.
You have not realized that you don’t hang out with your friends as often as did before.
You wonder why base ball matches don’t sound fun to you anymore.
You are now amongst colleagues who take their work home, and reluctantly avoid important occasions of their life like watching their child’s first performance at school.
You don’t know when, how, and why you turned into this kind of person.
It was the ego lifting at workplace. You did more work than you should have and expected of you.
Your organization inflated your ego by treating you nicely and put you on a higher pedestal.
You kept on lifting more weight than your capacity yet you didn’t visit a doctor because it wasn’t physically impacting you.
The impact of this ego lifting at workplace manifests itself in the deterioration of your personality and work-life balance.
What’s the fix?
As my physiotherapist said, you need to start correcting your ways from today onwards.
You can do these three things –
- Realize the difference between life and livelihood
- Realize that you can’t sustain this way of life for long
- Tell your boss that you can’t pull more weight than your capacity
If you are already dealing with chronic stress, burnout and mental health issues then you should certainly prioritize taking the appointment of a mental health practitioner.
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