F.E.A.R.
What’s your favorite definition?
Everyone has their own life to live.
Me.
You.
Your Mom.
My Wife.
Everybody. Has. One. Precious. Life. To. Live.
Much of our lives are lived in reaction to FEAR. We’re afraid of consequences, we’re afraid of what THEY might think, afraid of pain, of rejection, of humiliation, of so many things. There’s even a word for the fear of the number 13 : Triskaidekaphobia.
I have two favorite responses for this FEAR conundrum.
See, I used to be so terrified of public speaking, of new people, of anything that could be embarrassing to me personally. I was often paralyzed at the mere thought of such situations.
Then I heard some useful bit of advice. No, it wasn’t the ‘picture them in their underwear’ although that might have helped sometimes…
It was a simple question, ‘What’s the worst that will happen?”
Think on this.
What is the actual worst that will happen?
What is the actual worst thing that can happen, will you die, get shot, go bankrupt, contract a fatal disease? What? Embarrassment? A hit to your social standing? Losing a contract or a client?
Nobody ever won the game by playing the safe cards!
See, you usually have two acceptable options in most circumstances, if you discount the dithering useless choices that mean you didn’t choose, but rather opted to not choose, which is the passive cowards way out.
In any situation you find yourself, you can either
Fuck Everything and Run. Step away, drop the client, give up on the path that’s not worth your time (time is limited, each minute we waste, we can’t get back).
Fight Everything and Rise. You heard me. If it’s worth it, fight for it. You might fail. Failing at a goal or a task is a valuable thing. You learn more from failing than you ever will from success, and in applying that learning, you’re much closer to success.
So what’s your time worth spending on? When each second is more valuable than anything else anywhere (you only get one of each moments, and life is finite), what is it really worth spending time on?
Find your passion, realize it’s going to take more than one try to get to the goal, and then Fight for it.
Duke.
