Fortune Favors the Brave

By Ryan Holiday

Part I: Fear

• “Be scared. You can’t help that, but don’t be afraid” - William Faulkner
  • A scare is a temporary rush of a feeling. That can be forgiven. Fear is a state of being, and to allow it to rule is a disgrace.
• Break it down logically. Go to the root of it. Understand it. Explain it.
• You can’t let fear rule. Because there has never been a person who did something that mattered without pissing people off. There has never been a change that was not met with doubts. There has never been a movement that was not mocked. There was never a groundbreaking business that wasn’t loudly predicted to fail. And there has never, ever been a time when the average opinion of faceless, unaccountable strangers should be valued above our own considered judgment.
• Whatever the situation, the reality is that both sides are uncomfortable, if not afraid. The trepidation is mutual. You’re overestimating them…and they’re overestimating you.
• Seneca wrote about premeditatto malorum, the deliberate meditation on the evils that we might encounter
• It was Aristotle who said that the optimistic are the most vulnerable, because “when the result does not turn out as expected, they run away.” Foresee the worst to perform the best.
• If it were easy, everyone would do it. If everyone did it, how valuable would it be? The whole point is that it’s hard. The risk is a feature, not a bug. Nec aspera terrent. Don’t be frightened by difficulties.