The Test
Real artists ship. It’s not important if nobody sees it.
Category: Uncategorized
You Get One Day
You get today. Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. What will you do with today? Will you seek victory–or comfort?
Britain’s “King of the Cat Burglars”
Peter Scott – Telegraph. Crime isn’t what I usually think of when I think of courage. But this guy certainly had some cajones. I think it’s his sheer audacity that I find intriguing. He broke into rich people’s houses or hotel rooms, and if discovered, he would brazenly announce, “it’s only me,” or “everything’s all […]
Listening
It’s become fashionable in this country to take the old-school approach to disagreement: I believe x, and if you do not, you are wrong and must be corrected. The facts at issue can only be interpreted one way, and failure to interpret them the way we do means our adversary is at best stupid, at […]
Courage to Forgive
When someone wrongs us, we get angry. It’s really that simple. The greater the wrong, the greater the anger. And it’s easy to hold onto anger. If we don’t make an effort to get rid of it, it remains. It festers. It grows. Anger becomes a desire for retribution, for vengeance. It turns into resentment, […]
The Ones Left Behind
On Veterans Day, I talked about service members’ courage. I could say similar things about other groups: firefighters, police, merchant sailors, guys who work offshore oil rigs. But I left out a group that’s critical to success for all of them. It takes courage to be a family member left at home. Maybe as much, […]
Courage Not to Fight
Most of the time, we choose to fight when we don’t have to. Something makes us angry, our blood gets up, and we lash out. Or worse, we fight to be seen to fight, because we think it will make us look tough in front of the girl we want to impress. Or we think […]
Courage to Fight
There are times when we have no choice but to fight. There are times when, after all other options are off the table, our best choice is to strike first and strike hard. These times are exceedingly rare, but they are out there: When someone attacks you, and you fear for your life, and you […]
Courage to Move Forward
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain, from here Moving forward into the unknown is terrifying. […]
Badass of the Week
Badass. One reason I’ve chosen not to spend too much time on examples of physical courage is that it’s been done many times. In the case of Ben Thompson’s Badass of the Week, it’s been done really well, for a very long time. Each week, as you might have guessed, the site features a diferrent […]