Today I was struck by a paragraph in the book I'm reading:
"You must do everything that frightens you... Everything. I'm not talking about risking your life, but everything else. Think about fear, decide right now how you're doing to deal with fear, because fear is going to be the great issue of your life, I promise you. Fear will be the fuel for all your success, and the root cause of all your failures, and the underlying dilemma in every story you tell yourself about yourself. And the only chance you'll have against fear? Follow it. Steer by it. Don't think of fear as the villain. Think of fear as your guide, your pathfinder..."The Tender Bar: A Memoir, J.R. Moehringer
Two other articles that struck me this week:
- Making Decisions That Stick
- Maintaining Your Work/Work Balance
Btw, I'm feeling SO much better. This whole week's been really challenging and yet today it's finally reached the part of challenging that is exciting. Hope you all had a good weekend.
p.s. Big shout out to my pal, Dan, for being so awesome!
9 comments
Interesting thoughts about fear. In grad school, and working in some high-stress jobs, there were many who were motivated by fear, and there were supervisors who believed in setting unreasonable goals/expectations (a form of "management by fear"), and I don't think it brought out the best in me, or my colleagues for that matter. I'm much more motivated by "pride and joy" in my work, earning the praise of tough critics, and exceeding the expectations of clients/customers. But in terms of social situations, life-goals, personal issues, I can see the benefits of conquering your fears. But fear as THE great issue in your life? Not so sure about that.
just food for thought, larry. 🙂
Of course. 🙂 Just saw some provocative ideas in there and decided to throw in my two cents. I'm glad you post these kinds of things.
i'm glad you commented! good stuff about the management... that so often can be done so poorly. 🙂
:) thank you for reading!
hi hun... thanks for posting this. i've been having a tough time at work lately and this made me feel better... gave me perspective that you don't always know what's coming or going... and that's OK! 🙂
I think the quote may have some universal truth. It certainly resonated with me. Someone gave me The Tender Bar for a gift a few months ago and seeing the quote prompted me to start the book. Thanks.
"Life expands or shrinks in proportion to one's courage.:
Anais Nin
The more I think about that quote... the more examples I can think of that just prove it to be true.
You've got a handle on lots of Big Stuff right now.
The awesomeness is so a two-way street....
ya, I keep meaning to add that the quote is where someone is talking to him as an adolescent in the book. meaning, it's not some self help book that's saying that everyone will have to contend with fear, in the book it's directed to this kid in response to something he's said.
@ Mike, let me know how you like it. I'm loving it right now. Highly recommend it.
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