Change the pronoun, and you’ve got the right idea.
(Many thanks to PBFcomics.com for a spirited assortment of irony)
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Justin’s Musings
the inner ramblings of an excessively ideated spirit
An Accurate Description of My Life
“You are already naked.”
More often than not, we overlook simplicity in everyday thought. All throughout life, we concern ourselves with our most primal responses — pride and fear; we force ourselves to consider only those philosophies that traditional society insists. And in those moments of absolute disheartenment, when parochial solutions seem to fail, humankind fails to react; to stabilize. In these moments, particularly comforting to me are a few words by Apple’s CEO:
Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
- Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech, 2005
On quantifying consequences…
With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be. Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of undefined consequences. My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, “Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you alive.”
- Bob Parsons, 16 Rules for Success (in business and life in general)
