The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

August 19Law of Choice

Every excess causes a defect; every defect an excess. Every sweet hath its sour; every evil its good. Every faculty which is a receiver of pleasure has an equal penalty put on its abuse. It is to answer for its moderation with its life. For every grain of wit there is a grain of folly. For every thing you have missed, you have gained something else; and for every thing you gain, you lose something. If riches increase, they are increased that use them. If the gatherer gathers too much, nature takes out of the man what she puts into his chest; swells the estate, but kills the owner.

Ralph Waldo Emerson—“Compensation” (1841)

Isaac Newton's laws of motion were published over one hundred and fifty years prior to Emerson's essay, but it is easy to assume that Emerson was familiar with them. Most notably Newton's third law translated to read: “To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction.”

Though Greek philosophers dating to Aristotle had pondered this notion in philosophical context, Newton validated it in the physical world, therefore giving those who subscribed to the theory that the physical and quantum worlds are interconnected reason to explore Emerson's more metaphysical approach.

While there are certain laws dictating our fate, our destiny is still ours to choose. And choose we must—every single day. When luck opens a door, we have to choose to run through it as our very best self in order to turn it into an opportunity. We are essentially ...