Getting Lost by Doing Well

When we work hard
we sometimes
lose
our way.

It’s nobody’s
fault.

When we work hard,
we tend to
focus.

When we focus,
we can
obsess.

When we obsess,
we can get
impatient.

When we get impatient,
we can become
myopic.

When we become myopic,
our priorities
can be decided for us
by our myopia,
instead
of our holistic
vision.

When our decisions
are made for us
by our myopia
instead
of our holistic
vision,
we can feel
lost.

It can be exceptionally hard
to be still
when this happens.

Especially so,
when we feel pressured
by external forces
and the fear of failure
looms large.

So we keep going
despite feeling
lost.

Life’s Work

When we lose
our startup.

Many stories
arise.

One
is that we
have failed.

At what exactly?

Just because
that company
was not the company
with which you achieved
what you wanted to achieve,
it doesn’t mean
there will be no other company
with which
to do so.

The loss of your startup
does not equal
the loss
of your life’s work.

In fact,
it may equal
the gain
of the knowledge required
to do your life’s work.

The question may be
what
your life’s work
is
and are you willing
to continue
it.

To be a Person

The Chinese character
for person (人)
are two strokes
leaning against one another.

As if to signify
that to be a person
is to be there for each other
as each other’s support
at. all. times.

At first,
this seemed
impossible.

After all,
we cannot
actually be there for others
at all times.

That is,
until I realized
that others can sense our support
even
in our absence.

Thus,
being there for them
at all times.

But then it seemed
unnecessary.

We don’t
actually need
others to be there for us
at all times.

That is,
until I realized
that the moment we sense
we have no support whatsoever
is often
when we take
our own lives.

Thus,
needing someone
to be there
at all times.

Do We Fear Failure?

People say we fear failure.

I’m not sure how many people actually fear failure.

What most of us fear is what other people will think of us when they’ve found out that we’ve failed.