What Do We Say To Fear?

Not today.

I have always wondered what it would be like to step out on my own and work full-time on my ideas. Honestly, that thought scares me but at the same time, all so exhilirating. So what exactly am I afraid of? At the top of the list is financial insecurity. I also have what feels like an allergic reaction to the idea of poverty. That fear runs deep. In my uncertainty, I decided to seek wisdom from founders who have been down this road before. I came across Tom Preston Werner’s post from 2008 on GitHub’s early days, where he turned down a $300,000 offer from Microsoft to work on GitHub full-time. The last paragraph of his post really hit home for me:

In the end, just as Indiana Jones could never turn down the opportunity to search for the Holy Grail, I could no less turn down the chance to work for myself on something I truly love, no matter how safe the alternative might be. When I’m old and dying, I plan to look back on my life and say “wow, that was an adventure,” not “wow, I sure felt safe.”

Our north star in life should be to work on things that excite and energize us. My biggest fear is looking back one in my old age and realizing I didn’t give my dreams a shot — just because I was too afraid to leave behind a life of comfort. To me, that’s the only definition of failure. So what exactly is the antidote? The logical thing to do is to schedule time to execute on your own ideas. Even 3 to 4 times a week is enough considering work and other personal commitments. That might seem like a small number but given a block of time where I am hyper focused (ideally 4 hours), I can get a lot done of things done really quickly.

So, like Melisandre reminding Arya of Syrio’s words before she faced the Night King — what do we say to the god of fear? Not today.