The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

September 28Sense of Newness

Beginning my studies the first step pleas'd me so much, / The mere fact consciousness, these forms, the power of motion, / The least insect or animal, the senses, eyesight, love, / The first step I say awed me and pleas'd me so much, / I have hardly gone and hardly wish'd to go any farther, / But stop and loiter all the time to sing it in ecstatic songs.

Walt Whitman—Leaves of Grass (1892)

Although the first edition of Leaves of Grass was published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing, rewriting, and revising it until his death. This reading appeared in the preface of what is called “the deathbed edition.” These short inscriptions gave further insight into Whitman's thinking.

In “Beginning my studies,” he seems to share the joy most of us feel in starting something anew. The expectations, the limitless possibilities, the consciousness, the awakening of our senses.

As entrepreneurs pushing through fear and trying so many new things, we feel so intoxicated by the sensation of new that we are tempted to hold on and loiter—breathe it in, remember it, then turn the page and grind on.

But here's the challenge today: how can you take this sense of beginning into every step and stage along the path?

Challenge Question

1. When was the last time you felt fully alive starting something new? What did it feel like?