Mark Twain — Courage

Ask yourself what you are afraid of? What fears control your actions? What fears are holding you back? Are you afraid of snakes? Heights? Success? Math? A blank piece of paper? Silence? A blank canvas? The neighbor's dog?

In 1972 I was traveling through the western United States and decided to visit a mentor from my childhood who was living in British Columbia, Canada at the time. Ernie was a lumberjack turned minister and missionary.  He had been the camp director of a Bible camp that I had attended every summer from the age of ten until high school.  He was physically a very strong man.  He could grab a pole with both hands and raise his legs in the air until they were parallel with the floor much like a flag.

I spent a couple of weeks with him in the Canadian Rockies.  One time he took a group of us on a two-day canoe ride on a large lake.  I saw from a distance a grizzly bear fishing for salmon.  On our way home we encountered fog and lost our way.  After going in a circle a couple of times, Ernie stopped the canoes and asked us to bow our heads in prayer.  Despite his strength, Ernie knew that he could not let fear conquer him so he turned to God, the one source of strength that he knew.  

Creative leaders must learn to shake off the chains of fear. Fear can prevent us from taking risks, trying new ideas, exploring new ways of thinking. Each of us must find the courage to do what we desire to do despite our fears.

Walter Inglis Anderson — Risk

Life is about taking chances. Risk is a key part of success. And, I think, most creative leaders understand this. The very nature of creativity is risk taking. In order to create something new, we have to break down old patterns and rebuild in a different way. But if we are being honest with ourselves, we must admit that we do not take risks in every area of our lives. 

I, for one, will not risk my financial stability and security. I am an intellectual risk taker. I will explore new ideas and new ways of thinking. I will question my beliefs and those of others, but I am not an entrepreneur. I will not gamble the financial security of my family and myself. I will take risks with my writing and my art, but I won't risk my relationships with my family and friends.

Where do you draw the line? What are you not willing to risk? I am not willing to risk my money. If I gamble at a casino, I am only willing to lose five dollars. I work too hard for my money to throw it way.

Anderson is right. The most difficult risk is being honest with ourselves, admitting our failures and our weaknesses. What are your blind spots? What are you not willing to admit to yourself or to others? What do you want to keep hidden from the world? It takes courage to be honest with yourself. To face your fears and failures and honestly assess your weaknesses.

Dale Carnegie

Many of us are afraid to take a risk, to try something new.  We keep waiting for the right time.  Unfortunately, there is never going to be a right time.  When we stop risking, we start dying one day at a time.  The more safe we feel the less risk we take.  Security and safety are illusions of the mind.  We are never 100% safe.  I read a story about a woman who was driving on a country road and was killed by tree that fell and hit her car.  Just being alive is a risk. 

Taking a risk does not mean that you have to throw caution to the wind and risk everything.  Planned risk is best.  How much are you willing to sacrifice?  What are you willing to lose?  Be ready with a plan B if plan A fails.  Think ahead.  I have seen people quit their jobs without having a new job in hand.  They are putting themselves and others at serious risk.  A better alternative would be to job hunt while employed.  Take the leap but have a safety net.  High wire walkers without a safety net risk death.

One of the biggest risks that I took in my career was when I made the leap into marketing and sales without any prior training or experience.  The risk could have cost me my job and my marriage, but fortunately, I passed the test.

Every time I submit my writing to an editor I am taking a risk — I am facing rejection.  Writing this blog is a risk because people may not read it.  Showing my art in an art show is a risk because people may criticize.

Begin with small risks that won't cause too much pain.  You have to know what you are willing to lose.  Many years ago when I visited Las Vegas, I discovered how much money I was willing to risk — $5.00.  I played the nickel slot machines and was happy to sit there for 3 or 4 hours both winning and losing.  I tried my hand at poker once and lost $20 in ten minutes and I quit.  I was not willing to lose my hard earned money.

Now, some of you may be laughing.  I am not a gambler.  I know when to walk away.  I know when to fold the cards.  Yet, I have taken major risks in my thinking.  I have questioned and challenged everything I have been taught.  I don't need hand-me down answers to the eternal questions we all ask.

What kind of risk are you comfortable with?  What are you willing to sacrifice?  Do you have a safety net?  Or do you throw caution to the wind and hope for the best?    Is there a risk that you should be taking but are not?  Take the risk.  

Paulo Coelho

"A boat is safe in the harbor.  
But this is not the purpose of a boat."

— Paulo Coelho

Brazilian Novelist

1947 -

Commentary

Life is about balance, not extremes.  Sometimes we can be too careful.  We stay in  the harbor and never leave because we are afraid of what might happen out on the open ocean.  Sometimes we throw caution to the wind and venture into dangerous waters.  We behave in a reckless manner that endangers others as well as ourselves.  Too much of anything is harmful.  

So have you been sitting in the harbor too long?  Have you been waiting for the perfect wind so long that you have forgotten how to sail?  Or have you thrown yourself into an adventure without adequate preparation?  Are you seasick from the bumpy ride and looking for a safe harbor?  Life is about balance, not extremes.

Some writers sit on their manuscripts too long, wanting to make sure each word is perfect. I have read stories of writers making changes even as the book is headed to press.  Perfection does not exist.  We can always make changes in the next edition.  Other writers fail to put enough time into perfecting the manuscript.  They are sloppy.  Which are you?

Creative Practice

This week raise the sail on the boat that you have left in the harbor.  Prepare to sail into unknown waters.  Is there a manuscript you can send out that you have been unwilling to submit to the eyes of critics and editors?  Is there a painting that you have been wanting to complete, but have not had the courage?  Set sail for the unknown.

Background on Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  He wanted to be a writer but his parents were opposed so he entered law school only to drop out after a year.  He traveled through South America, Mexico, Europe and North Africa.  Upon returning to Brazil, Coelho worked as a journalist, actor, songwriter and theater director.

In 1986, Coelho walked the 500-plus mile pilgrimage on the Road of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain.  Following the pilgrimage, he wrote his most famous book, The Alchemist, with a small Brazilian publisher.  The novel has sold more than 65 million copies and has been translated into 71 different languages.  He has published 30 books.

Diane Keaton

"You have to live life all the way.  Take risks.  Do things you can't imagine."

— Diane Keaton

American Actress

1946 - 

The hardest thing for most people to do is to live life to the fullest.  Usually we hold ourselves back for various reasons — most of them perceived, not real.  We are afraid of the unknown.  We are afraid of what might happen.  Fear dominates us.  We are not willing to risk everything.  We choose to play it safe.  Are you playing it safe in your art?  Or are you swinging for the fences?  Are you living the creative life?

Here is Diane Keaton discussing her memoir, Then Again.

Annie Dillard

"Write as if you were dying.  At the same time, assume you write for an audience consisting solely of terminal patients.  That is, after all, the case.  What would you begin writing if you knew you would die soon?  What could you say to a dying person that would not enrage by its triviality?"

— Annie Dillard

American Writer

1945 -

These are not idle statements.  Death puts a very different perspective on what we do.  What would you write if you knew you were dying?  Do you have a few final stories to tell or poems to write?  What would you paint?  Would try to create something you have never created or would you paint the same thing you have always painted?  Or would you write at all?  Would let go of your creative impulse?  

What would you write if no one would criticize you?  What would you paint if you knew that no one would laugh?  What would you sing if you knew that people would clap?  

Death is about saying goodbye to what we know.  Death is about letting go of material objects that have been a part of our lives.  Death is about forgetting.  Death is a door through which we all must walk whether we are painters, writers, doctors or lawyers.

William Sloan Coffin

"All of life is the exercise of risk."

— William Sloan Coffin

American Author, Clergy, Peace Activist

1924 - 2006

Have you ever let fear stand in the way your doing something that you desired to do?  Most of us have.  And yet if we stop and think about it: all life is a risk.  While eating carrots, you can choke and die.  Walking down the street at 6 a.m., you can be hit by a speeding car.  Taking a shower, you can slip and fall and hit your head.  You can visit a doctor and be told that you have cancer and have only six weeks to live.  All life is fraught with risk.  So why haven't you tried that new technique of painting?  Are you afraid you will fail?  Why haven't you sent your novel to a publisher?  Are you afraid of rejection?

Fear is powerful and often stops us from doing what we want to do?  We all have dreams and hopes, but sometimes we are not courageous enough to take that first step into the unknown.  That first step is often the most difficult.  In our minds, we think of all the things that could go wrong.  We should instead focus on our dreams and what we want to accomplish.  What steps are you going to take today to overcome your fears?  

Walt Disney

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity leads us down new paths."

— Walt Disney

American Film Director, Producer

1901 - 1966

Are you curious about the world around you?  Curiosity fuels our creative thinking.  Curiosity provides the sparks for new ideas.  Disney was the creative genius who changed the world of filmmaking and animation.  What are you doing to change your world?  How are you challenging yourself to try new ideas?  How are you stepping outside your comfort zone?

It is easy to get caught in a rut — to do what is safe and secure.  Creative leaders need to keep moving and growing.  They need to walk down new paths and open new doors.  They need to be curious.

James Baldwin

"One can give nothing whatever without giving oneself — that is to say, risking oneself.  If one cannot risk oneself then one is simply incapable of giving."

— James Baldwin

American Novelist

1924 - 1987

All art is risk.  As creative leaders we risk being vulnerable to criticism and ridicule.  We risk doubt and failure.  We risk being misunderstood.  Yet, there is no creation without risk.  There is no art without giving of oneself.

Taking a risk requires that we step out of our comfort zone and try something new.  Taking risk helps us to grow and progress as artists.  Taking a risk means that we might fail.  Taking a risk requires courage.

What risks are you not taking because you are afraid?  What risks do you want to take but you don't have the courage?  If you knew that you would die in a year, what risks would you take today?  What truth have you not told because you are afraid of what others might say?

Ernest Hemingway

"The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity to sacrifice.  Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable; they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed."

— Ernest Hemingway

American Novelist

1899 - 1961

As writers, artists and creative leaders we often are vulnerable to the hostile, negative behavior of people who do not understand us and what we represent.  These negative people can be our friends and family initially and the wider world eventually as our creative ideas and works try to find their place in that world.  We need to remain strong and courageous in the face of negative attacks.

As creative leaders we often sacrifice much to achieve our dreams.  We become so focused on and obsessed with our work that we ignore family and friends.  We miss out on the joys of life.  We may forget to take care of our health.  We drink and/or take drugs to kill the demons chasing us.  We suffer ridicule at the hands of those who don't understand us and what we do.

People may hate us when we tell the truth.  Often people are not ready for the truth we have to speak.  They may criticize and condemn us.  They may laugh at us.  We must find the discipline and the courage to speak the truth anyway — to open up and share our thoughts and feelings, to share the beauty we see.

Hemingway At Work

Alan Alda

"Be brave enough to live creatively.  The creative is the place where no one else has ever been.  You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition.  You cannot get there by bus, only by hard work, risking and by not quite knowing what you are doing.  What you will discover will be wonderful: yourself."

— Alan Alda

American Actor, Director, Screenwriter

1936 - 

Have you visited the wilderness of your intuition?  Have you listened to the voice within your spirit?  Have you descended into the depths of your soul?  Have you discovered the nature of your existence?  Creativity is a journey of the spirit to realms not seen by the ordinary eye.  If you have been blessed with the opportunity to travel this road, then you understand the healing power within your soul.  God walks with each of us.  We must learn to decipher his voice from the chaotic noise so we may enjoy the majesty of beauty.

Wendell Phillips

"Revolutions are not made: they come.  A revolution is as natural a growth as an oak.  It comes out of the past.  Its foundations are laid far back."

— Wendell Phillips

American Abolitionist, Orator, Lawyer, Author

1811- 1884

What, you might ask, do revolutions have to do with creativity?  Revolutions are a creative response to the status quo and happen at all levels of society.  Revolutions are happening in literature and art as each generation rejects the styles of previous generations.  Consider how Impressionism, Cubism and Abstract Expressionism started out as movements outside the mainstream.  

Revolutionaries have to think outside the box.  They have to be willing to see the world through new eyes.  The abolitionists stood up against slavery.  The civil rights activists stood up against segregation.  Wendell Phillips also said:  "Physical bravery is an animal instinct, moral bravery is a much higher and truer courage."  

What risks are you taking in your art?  Your writing?  Are you challenging the status quo?  Are you standing up for what is right?  Are you looking at the world with fresh eyes?  Creative leaders have to think outside the box.  They need to risk trying new techniques — new ways of thinking.

Wendell Phillips was born in Boston, Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard Law School.  He was a powerful speaker and became a voice of the anti-slavery movement.

Theodore H. White

"To go against the dominant thinking of your friends, of most of the people you see every day, is perhaps the most difficult act of heroism you can have."

— Theodore H. White

American Journalist/Writer

1915 - 1986

As artists and creative leaders, we often have to stand alone against the thinking of family and friends.  This is very difficult to do and often we will be criticized for what we think and the way we behave.  This happened to me early in my life.  I grew up in the Mennonite church in central Illinois.  When I was a sophomore in high school, I committed myself to being a minister.  By the time I was a senior, I was no longer a believer in the faith of my forefathers.  This admission was very difficult for both my mother and father to hear.  

Do you stand up for what you believe even though the people around you disagree with you?  Did you become an artist despite the wishes of your parents?  Many parents prefer their children become doctors and lawyers.  It takes a strong-willed individual to become a writer or a painter in the face of parental opposition.  As Theodore White says, each of you are heroes.  Celebrate and appreciate your strength and individuality.

Ferruccio Busoni

"The function of the creative artist consists of making laws, not in following laws already made."

— Ferruccio Busoni

Italian Composer, Pianist

1866 - 1924

When I teach people how to speak, I always tell them to learn the rules of speaking, but to understand that they can break every rule.  Speaking is an art, not a science.  Creative leaders understand that there are rules and techniques governing their art, but they have the right to break the rules.  Creative leaders are willing to take a risk and attempt something that lesser artists are unwilling to risk.  If you study the long history of the arts, you will see the pattern — every generation breaks the rules of the older generations and makes new rules.  Think of the changes the impressionists, the cubists and the abstract expressionists  made to art in the last 150 years.  Think about the rules that writers and musicians have broken in the past and continue to break today.  What risks are you taking with your art?  What rules have you been willing to bend and break?  What new rules have you put in their place.  In art, nothing is absolute.

Danny Kaye

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can."

— Danny Kaye
American Actor

1913 - 1987

We are in charge of our lives.  We make choices every day that lead us where we want to be.  Life is like a canvas and we are the artists of our lives.  We paint the person we want to be.  Or we paint the person we think we are.  We tell our stories through the art.  Are you painting the life you want?  Have you chosen a large enough canvas?  Are you too stingy with the paint?

Michelangelo

"Your greatness is measured by your horizons."

— Michelangelo

1475 - 1564

Our progress is depended on our vision and the goals we set for ourselves.  If my goal is to own a house in the small town where I live, then I may never achieve the greatness I was meant to achieve.  If you want to achieve great things, then you need to set goals that will take you there.  Many of us underestimate our potential.  Set bigger goals for yourself.  See yourself bigger than you are today.  As an artist or writer, don't limit your opportunities.  Stretch yourself.  Shoot for bigger magazines and larger galleries.

Dale Carnegie

"Take a chance!  All life is a chance.  The man who goes the furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare."

— Dale Carnegie

1888 - 1955

Many of us are afraid to take a risk, to try something new.  We keep waiting for the right time.  Unfortunately, there is never going to be a right time.  When we stop risking, we start dying one day at a time.  The more safe we feel the less risk we take.  Security and safety are illusions of the mind.  We are never 100% safe.  Is there a risk that you should be taking but are not?  Take the risk.