Another reason to trust your self.
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Notes
If you don’t trust your self, and if you don’t find your worth in the practice to which you’ve committed:
- There is pressure to take what you can get
- Cutting corners and hustling in the short term make sense
The “economics of community” argues against that short term hustle, but when people flail, they often choose the “selfish path.”
“To a drowning man, everyone else is a stepping-stone to safety.”
Thoughts
The idea that selfishness is a choice that may come less from malice than from desperation is generous. (I mean that literally, not sarcastically.)
It’s also important: I like to think that I wouldn’t maliciously choose to grasp, cut corners, hustle (in the short-term sense). But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t find myself tempted to do so out of frustration or fear.
This chapter re-emphasizes the importance of self-trust and commitment to a practice. These protect us from desperation and lead us, as creative people, toward the alternative choice: that of generosity.
This series is meant to capture my thoughts as I work through Seth Godin’s The Practice. It’s a book with over 200 (very short) chapters, which I hope to work through and, I further hope, to implement over time.
If you’re interested in more of Godin’s ideas, or my thoughts about them, you can check out this collection of posts. Note that if you’re more interested in the former, you should probably get Godin’s book and read it yourself; my notes will be both incomplete and idiosyncratic, and my thoughts will relate to my own experience.
But if my thoughts resonate with you, or if you think I’m just silly, I welcome your comments.