The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

March 9Of Intense Light

The eye is the best of artists. By the mutual action of its structure and of the laws of light, perspective is produced, which integrates every mass of objects, of what character soever, into a well colored and shaded globe, so that where the particular objects are mean and unaffecting, the landscape which they compose, is round and symmetrical. And as the eye is the best composer, so light is the first of painters. There is no object so foul that intense light will not make beautiful.

Ralph Waldo Emerson—Nature (1836)

In both a metaphorical and physical sense, light is one of the most functional tools of the entrepreneur.

Often the basis of a business is to shine a light on a glaring need shared by a group of people.

Light creates beauty and provides utility. Light creates colors in nature, rendering the same mountain, seen over and over, ultimately unique in each day by cast, shade, and hue.

But where light provides its greatest service to the self-reliant entrepreneur is through the ability to create the conditions for nonjudgment.

Holding the intense light created by your passion allows you to rethink your relationship with narratives like good and bad, like and dislike, success and failure, fair and unfair.

By adopting nonjudgment as your primary manner of illuminating your world, you'll begin to stay focused only on what you can control in each day.

Today's job is to shine a light on how much you judge yourself, your thoughts, your ideas, your ...