The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

January 1The Force of Nature

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a person does not keep pace with their companions, perhaps it is because they hear a different drummer. Let them step to the music which they hear, however measured or far away. It is not important that you should mature as soon as an apple tree or an oak. Shall you turn your spring into summer?

Henry David Thoreau—Walden (1854)

Nature has no desire to succeed—one season inevitably folds into the next, a year marked by changes in weather, ecology, and daylight—no matter how much force we might exert to contain it.

If we attempted to mimic nature, one thing is for sure, we would release the need to control any aspect of our lives. We would give in to what naturally needs to happen.

This is a fundamental element of self-reliance. And ironically by releasing the need to control we eventually find that we gain access to greater control.

Think about the last time you forced or tried to force something to happen. How did that feel? How did it turn out? If you succeeded, did the result last?

Now think about the last time something came into your life by way of what felt like luck. Isn't it possible that your lack of control actually created what you characterized as luck? Your letting go created your fate.

Today, and as you journey through this book, consider the many things on your path that worked out well for you even though you didn't or couldn't control them—listen ...