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“I define anxiety as experiencing failure in advance…and if you have anxiety about initiating a project, then of course you will associate risk with failure.”

A thought by Seth Godin (2011-03-01) in his book, Poke the Box (p. 14). The Domino Project. Kindle Edition.

Somehow risking has been taken out of our life style because we are so afraid to fail. 

Think about this...  I am a Los Angeles Dodgers’ fan.  I love baseball and I love the Dodgers.  To be honest it is tough being an LA fan this year.  But any way, yesterday they played the St Louis Cardinals and a rookie by the name of Justin Sellers lead off.  That means he is the first batter of the game.  Now what if he sees that he is leading off so he goes to the manager and says, “Thanks, Mr. Mattingly for the confidence that you have placed in me but I am too afraid of leading off the game because I might strike out so could you put me down in the batting order?”  What do you think Don Mattingly the Dodgers’ manager would do?  He probably would send him to the minors to never ever play for the Dodgers again.  Now the truth is, Sellers was on base two times and scored one run and was one of two in the starting lineup that didn’t strike out. 

I’m sure you realize that any baseball player who has made it to the majors has gotten a grip on the anxiety that comes from the potential of striking out.  Did you know that for many years Babe Ruth had the record for most home runs and he also had the record for most strike outs?  The best players in the game only get on base 3 out of 10 times. 

It is all in our focus.  I know some people who live everyday with the picture in their mind that they are not going to have enough money to live on when they retire.  They live in fear.  My dad said something when I was a teenager that has stayed with me all my life.  He said, “What your faith covers you now have.”  And the other is also true, “What your fear covers you now have.”  The truth is those people probably won’t have enough money when they retire because it’s what they fear because we never have enough.  We always want more.

They are talking about a hurricane hitting Long Island where I live this week end.  Am I afraid?  Not particularly but I am going to be prepared.  We live within 10 miles of the Atlantic Ocean so we may go inland.   But I am not experiencing failure in advance.  I believe that God will protect us and show us what we need to do. 

Somehow we need to learn by God’s help how to face the unknown of life with confidence.  If we don’t we will live lives of anxiety and fear because we believe that we are going to fail.  That is not the kind of life that I want to live.  It is not the kind of life that I have lived. 

What about you?
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