The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

March 18Resist Much

To the States or any one of them, or any city of the States, Resist / much, obey little, / Once unquestioning obedience, once fully enslaved, / Once fully enslaved, no nation, state, city of this earth, ever / afterward resumes its liberty.

Walt Whitman—Leaves of Grass (1855)

As America's first counterculture movement, the transcendentalists were a rowdy bunch.

Thoreau's Civil Disobedience was perhaps the fullest telling of this movement, but in four little words Whitman gives the entrepreneur a mantra to live by—Resist Much, Obey Little.

This is our daily call to arms.

So, when you are told that your idea is foolish, resist much, obey little. When doubt tells you to turn back, resist much, obey little. When success suggests that now is the time to play it safe, resist much, obey little.

Challenge Question

1. Where will you place today's call to arms so that you may see it every day?