A person’s biggest challenge to overcome—no matter their profession or role in society—is their own ego.
Analysis
Ego usually prevents people from being self-critical enough to produce important societal contributions because an overinflated sense of self-worth prevents egotistical people from connecting truthfully and meaningfully with the world and their place in it.
Correspondingly, a study from the University of Illinois found that the success with which subjects completed a task was dependent upon their own self-assessment. If subjects overestimated their self-worth or underestimated it, they failed to perform at the same level as a person who was capable of a more sober and realistic self-assessment. Those who overestimated their capabilities were more likely to see a decline in motivation to perform future tasks. These findings demonstrate the ways in which a sense of self-worth directly impacts the quality of work that a person can produce or is willing to produce. [3]