Up until recently, I used to believe the antidote to fear was careful planning.
The problem with planning, for people who have read Black Swan, is that the most consequential events are Black Swans, entirely unpredictable events where no amount of planning can prepare you. Therefore generally success is not created by following a carefully architected plan, but by people who think with their foot on the gas pedal.
But, what do you do about all those things you are worried about? How do you mitigate risk? Never mortgage your house for a business. Stay out of ruin’s clutches and you will generally be able to withstand and respond to the curve balls life throws at you. And in fact, plan on things going poorly, plan on making mistakes, plan on doing things badly and having a second chance to redeem yourself, plan on people forgetting your mistakes, celebrate the errors because that is how neuroscientists have demonstrated people learn most.
The antidote to fear is not planning, it’s faith.
EITHER you will
go through this door
or you will not go through.
If you go through
there is always the risk
of remembering your name.
Things look at you doubly
and you must look back
and let them happen.
If you do not go through
it is possible
to live worthily
to maintain your attitudes
to hold your position
to die bravely
but much will blind you,
much will evade you,
at what cost who knows?
The door itself makes no promises.
It is only a door.
-Adrienne Rich