The Beta Conundrum – How To Grow A Massive Ego

This is an unusual philosophical problem concerning self-perception of an individual.
It’s not the most important question, but I think it’s interesting.
If you are wondering why I assume that some people are better than others, read the explanation at the end.

The problem:

I. There’s always someone better than you. Someone can always beat your ass.
Even world champions get beat at some point. Nurmagomedov could have been beaten during one of his injuries.

II. Thus, you can never truly be an “alpha”.
You can only ever be the best one in a certain group of people.

III. If you choose to avoid situations in which you might be confronted by people better than you, so that you don’t think about your imperfection, that’s pretty cowardly.
If, however, you simply accept that someone can always beat you, you acknowledge your status of “second-grade”. What is the answer to this conundrum?

IV. In my opinion, the only solution is to simply assume that you are the best at whatever you do.
Don’t be afraid of confrontation and if someone beats you, don’t accept that as the ultimate judgement.
This seems to be the only solution that satisfies your ego.

2 side notes:

1. I have noticed that “streaks” are an interesting neuropsychological phenomenon. Saying “I never failed at doing xyz for the last 5 years” has a different effect on your ego than saying “I’ve been relatively consistent recently”. I think that is due to it being an absolute. Absolute formulations are different, making a plan like “I’ll try to workout 3 times a week, unless I’m busy, then only 2 times a week” has very little of value compared to the following: “Until I reach goal xyz, I will train 3 times every week, with 15 minutes before every single session in which I prepare myself mentally for going as hard as I possibly can.”

Also, a streak is a way to hold on to “energy” that is released e.g. whenever you do something spineless. It might sound esoterical, but this energy is a real thing, maybe it’s muscle tension, maybe it’s some hormone or neurotransmitter, maybe it’s just a feeling, I don’t know. Maybe it’s your ego growing bigger through you not being humbled needlessly and bringing up the willpower to keep a streak alive.

This does not mean that the absolute formulation is always better, but some people respond especially well to them, as if it were a contract with yourself. I am not (yet) one of those people.

2. For the dumbasses and bleeding hearts, here is proof that some people are better than others:
Most people dislike Stalin for being “the worst” human being in history. They do so, because by definition of bad being opposite to good, they feel he is worse than them, thus they deem themselves better than him, pretty basic stuff.
I will dismantle the following arguments against these observations:

2.1. Some nihilists might argue that there is no such thing as “bad” and “good”. Stalin caused the deaths of millions of people, failed miserably as a leader, strategist and father. He further terrorized his country, intentionally starving the Ukraine, etc. God only knows what his plans were, but I’m pretty sure they failed miserably.
The smarter nihilists will at least recognize the value of truth, and the truth I stated in this paragraph proved Stalin to have been a delusional dumbass.
2.2. “We shouldn’t judge people!” Surprisingly (or not), this statement is never made when talking about war criminals responsible for millions of deaths. Judging is the purpose of our brain, its reason for existence. If you couldn’t define something / someone as not good, how could you define good? Even if we couldn’t objectively define something as good or bad, subjectively we would still have our own judgement of what is worth working towards and what isn’t, otherwise we wouldn’t function.
2.3. “He wasn’t bad, as people don’t have free will.” Ok, then let’s say he had a bad fate. Doesn’t make a fucking difference. Problem solved.

The only valid argument would be that you can’t accurately assess whether or not you are better than any specific person. I believe (not know!) that a reasonable human being can judge that rather precisely. Furthermore, there is no point in judging everyone as either better or worse than you, only idols and rivals are worthy of your judgement. There, I said it, judging people isn’t always the right thing to do.