Thursday, October 8, 2009

Fear Fear

I was listening to a story the other day of a man who didn't do a deal 20 years ago, seemingly mostly out of fear of the unknown. It was proposed that he merge his company into another, a company that became one of the most successful companies ever. Had he overcome his fear and gone with the proposal, he likely would have 100 times the net worth he has today.

This rang true with me. I believe lots of people, myself included at times, have passed on opportunities out of a fear of the unknown, and more likely a fear of not being perfectly right as opposed to being dramatically wrong, more ego protection driven that rationale driven. Thus I came up with a profound piece of wisdom:

"Fear fear."
~ James Hawkins

This is along the lines of "we have nothing to fear but fear itself," words spoken by Roosevelt in trying times. However, this statement simplifies the message into the least amount of words possible, elegantly suggesting that of the things to fear, fear itself should be on the list.

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