October 2019
Beginner
400 pages
7h 56m
English
Content preview from The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur
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June 11Security in Optimism
What is good is effective, generative; makes for itself room, food, and allies. A sound apple produces seed—a hybrid does not. Is a person in their place, is constructive, fertile, magnetic, inundating armies with their purpose, which is thus executed.
Ralph Waldo Emerson—Uses of Great Men (1841)
Emerson believed in heroes. He was, it seems, to his core an optimist and an idealist.
Uses of Great Men opens with this thought:
It is natural to believe in great men. If the companions of our childhood should turn out to be heroes, and their condition regal it would not surprise us.
When do you suppose most people give up the notion of saving the world? Upon getting their first real job, taking on a mortgage, the moment they realize their lack of courage has caused them to overcommit to things they don't actually believe?
What is good, makes for itself room.
Idealism—the idea that you could in fact be the hero who produces something fruitful—gives you the confidence to do the things that if you knew better you would have never attempted.
There is security in optimism and idealism—cling to it.
Hey, if it doesn't work out, you've always got time to become pragmatic.
Challenge Question
- How can you best turn your idealism into reality—even if you need to find it again?
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