Fear, NO! Kindness, Science and Progress, YES!

Wise men put their trust in ideas
and not in circumstances
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

I can't understand why people
are frightened by new ideas.
I'm frightened of old ones.
- John Cage

There are no constraints on the human mind,
no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our
progress except those we ourselves erect.
- Ronald Reagan

The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas
as in escaping from old ones.
- John Maynard Keynes

The world moves, and ideas that were
once good are not always good.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Incite a riot of new ideas.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

An invasion of armies can be resisted,
but not an idea whose time has come.
- Victor Hugo

Further reading: A Better Plan

Choice vs. Conformity

Flexibility

Progress
      

Welcome New Ideas

I can't understand why people
are frightened by new ideas.
I'm frightened of old ones.
- John Cage

The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas
as in escaping from old ones.
- John Maynard Keynes

An invasion of armies can be resisted,
but not an idea whose time has come.
- Victor Hugo

The world moves, and ideas that were
once good are not always good.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

Wise men put their trust in ideas
and not in circumstances
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are no constraints on the human mind,
no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our
progress except those we ourselves erect.
- Ronald Reagan

Incite a riot of new ideas.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Choice vs. Conformity

Progress

A Better Plan 

Flexibility
      

Don't Give Up

Don't give up.
There are too many nay-sayers out there who will try to discourage you.
Don't listen to them.
The only one who can make you give up is yourself.
- Sidney Sheldon

Keep moving. Don't stop. But don't rush.
Don't race around.
Sure and steady gets you there every time.
- Neale Donald Walsch

You make a mistake, you keep going.
- Linda Gray

Achievement seems to be connected with action.
Successful men and women keep moving.
They make mistakes, but they don't quit.
- Conrad Hilton

True courage is taking another small step each day
toward achieving your vision.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Stand Up To Your Obstacles

Beyond Failure

What is Defeat?

Keep Moving

One More Step

Stand Up To Your Obstacles

Obstacles are those frightful things you see
when you take your eyes off your goals.
- Henry Ford

Stand up to your obstacles
and do something about them.
You will find that they haven't
half the strength you think they have.
- Norman Vincent Peale

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Success is to be measured not so much
by the position that one has reached in life
as by the obstacles which he has overcome.
- Booker T. Washington

Choose your goal and keep your eye on it. Never give up.
Perhaps you will need to change your plan
and approach you goal from a different direction, but don't quit.
Keep thinking. Keep re-planning. Keep going.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Circumstances don't defeat you -
you defeat yourself when you give up.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Photo: Talking to relatives across the Berlin Wall 1961.

Further reading: Step by Step

Wanting is Not Enough

What is Defeat?

Choose to Soar

Keep Moving

Beyond Failure

I will close my eyes and leap - Mary Anne Radmacher

The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be.
Because of all I may become, I will close my eyes and leap.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

You can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.
- old proverb often attributed to David Lloyd George

Do or do not, there is no try.
- Yoda (Star Wars movie)

Many important things shouldn't be done half-way. Think of getting married, having children, starting a business, changing your career. There are times to gather your courage and make the leap, the whole leap.

Further reading: The jump is so frightening - Mary Anne Radmacher Take inspiration from Mary Anne's own story about the origin of her famous quote.

The jump is so frightening - Mary Anne Radmacher

The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be … because of all I may become I will close my eyes and leap. - Mary Anne Radmacher

the jump is so frightening - Mary Anne Radmacher

When I was a little girl I would save my money and go to our corner drug store which had, what I thought, was the world’s largest collection of greeting cards. And they were for sale! Bliss. I loved all the images and would take an hour to select one card. Even at eight years old I thought the inside greetings were just plain silly. I would purchase my card, march home and use my dad’s white-strike-out-correcting sheet to set those insides right (had “white out” not yet been invented?). Then it was ready for a personal note and was sent off to some interested family friend or a relative that required a thank you. I was not sure what “precocious” meant but folks always said it in a kind way when they told my mother that’s what I was.

In my early twenties I dreamt of starting my own greeting card company. I would write on the pages of my journal, ”I want to be an artist.” I longed to create a livelihood that had meaning and use my talents and skills in the service of a compelling and inspiring idea. I was certain that I would have to WAIT until I was (eh-hem) really old. Maybe some time in my forties. I thought perhaps by the time I reached the wise age of 45 I would have gotten all the education needed and managed to save up enough money to fund my own company.

The rumblings wouldn’t leave. I felt unwilling to wait almost twenty years before I could manifest my dream I wrote to a man who used to own the kite shop in the small community in which I lived. He knew a lot about how to make things fly…including one’s dreams. I poured my heart out to him in that letter. I told him I realized I didn’t know the first thing about operating a business and I didn’t have a dime to my name. But I KNEW what I wanted to do. And then I wrote, “The jump is so frightening between where I am and where I want to be…because of all I may become I will close my eyes and leap.”

I brought the letter to a close and posted it. Soon a photocopy of that letter came back to me. The jump phrase was circled in RED…with his note on the side. “THIS sentence, these words, are the reason you are ready to start your business now. You know everything you need to know…and these words should go on one of your first products.”

They did.

I have heard stories over the years how that particular sentence has been the motivation to move people along and give them the courage to put wings to their dreams.

Ha! Just today I could fold those words into a letter whispered just after these words, “I am on the cusp of a remarkable journey. All the longings of my life have led me to this amazing transition in my experience.” Ah, yes. Jump.