The artist and the entrepreneur (and all of us on the soul-level) live in an uncertain world. Our trade is in ideas, but who can say where the next one is coming from—or even if there will be a next one?
~ Steven Pressfield from, https://stevenpressfield.com/2010/08/humility/
There’s a wonderful quote from John Gardner or somebody that, alas, I can’t find. The bad paraphrase goes something like this: …
Yes, I left out the best part to make you click through to his site.
It seems there are three choices:
- be a braggadocios asshole, “I am the King of Awesome!”
- be faux humble, “little ‘ol me? …I’m nobody, I’ve not done anything.”
- be actually humble, “I’m in love with this idea, and I’ve over here quietly working on it.”
Of course, there’s an infinite range of coloring on those axis. But I think my point is clear. I spent a lot of time over in zone 1; that didn’t work out well (for me or anyone else.) I’m disqualified from zone 2; there are simply too many things I’ve done.
Which leads to the problem: Over in zone three, one would necessarily want to sacrifice everything else to nurture the idea. That way lies madness, I think.
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