Category: risk
Care less to impress
You’ll soon realize it’s easy to impress people when you don’t care whether they’re impressed or not.
Of course the only way to reduce how much you care to impress is to have plenty of other options so that one doesnt mean as much. And the only way to have more options is to keep trying more. Experimenting more. Leaving yourself vulnerable more.
Throw more against the wall and see what sticks. Rinse, repeat.
Tightrope
Life is a tightrope. Everyone’s walking on it but no one’s sure whether their next step will see them still on the rope or not.
Common sense says you SHOULD be unsure, there is very little holding you from falling off. But there is something you CAN be sure of, and that’s yourself. You can be confident in how you’re balancing yourself and of taking control of that small area you have a say in. Forget the rest. Ground yourself in that bit of security and let that be the source of your confidence.
Those that can radiate this confidence become the winners, they understand that it doesn’t pay to worry about all the other variables they can’t control.
The limit
Finding out our own limits and vulnerabilities is a powerful tool. Tiptoeing the edge of that cliff and still surviving.
It scares the shit out of you. And even though others might not see it, it bursts your confidence bubble a bit because now you have no doubts about where your powers end.
But it more than makes up for it with the alleviating realization that EVERYONE goes through it. Finding that it is only by creeping to that edge that we can truly progress.
Makes success seem so much more blue collar, and that’s a GREAT realization.
Trouble
Trouble is good. Trouble means trying.
You know what trouble I’m talking about. The good type that makes you try something no one’s done before in hopes of creating the next big thing. This is not only ok, it’s the only way to make your mark.
Get yourself into trouble, it goes hand in hand with failure. And not too far behind failure comes success. It forces you into fighting for mere survival, and that’s the best fighting we can ever do. Just remember, once you start trouble you have to follow through confidently with more risky behavior until you break through. Reverting back to the rules too soon will crush your boldness momentum.
Go for it. Use those trouble free passes before you expire.
Picking yourself
Growing up basketball was my life. I played anywhere from 3 to 6 hours every day, and the other hours of the day were spent thinking about playing.
I mention it to illustrate one of the worst feelings ever: being in the playground and being chosen last. Or not even being chosen on a team at all.
It’s good to be valued, and it’s good to be liked. It makes us feel good. But eventually I got fed up with waiting to be picked so I practiced free throws and ensured I would earn the captain spot by making the first shot.
I stopped waiting to be picked and I picked myself first. Mr. Godin would agree.
However as life progressed I seem to have forgotten this lesson. Why do I wait to be offered a dream job? Why do I wait for validation from others to realize that my work is good and serves a purpose?
Somewhere along this 15 year journey between 13 and 28 I forgot that if you don’t pick yourself no one else will. If you do luck out and get chosen then you’re beholden to the picker for your esteem. Side dish of crapola.
When you become the picker you’re determining your worth. You appointed yourself captain of the team and are accepting the challenge of living up to this standard. And your standards are the only ones that really matter.
You bet on yourself and if you lose you only have one person to answer to. Numero uno. I can live with that.
