January 22Leap Unapologetically
If you lend me your ears, I shall doubtless take your hearts too. That I may not lead you into any wrong, let me warn you of this. Never violate the sacredness of your individual self-respect. Be true to your own mind and conscience, your heart and your soul.
Theodore Parker—The Collected Works of Theodore Parker (1865)
Figuring out what it means to be true to your own mind is merely the halfway point. The real work involves holding it and finding a way to make it so.
However, if the conditions that feed your heart and soul don't exist, perhaps you'll need to make them.
Some people will tell you that you can't do that—take delight in that and leap unapologetically into the hard work at hand.
Yes, it's hard work. But wouldn't you rather work hard doing something that brings you hope? Wouldn't you be more okay with failing at something that nourished your soul?
In a Poet's Advice to Students, e e cummings wrote, “To be nobody-but-yourself—in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else—means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.”
Challenge Question
- What's one thing you will never violate, never stop fighting for, in your search of the perfect entrepreneurial journey?
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