Emerson's Wisdom, Being in Over Your Head, Competition's Beauty
Three Point Thursday
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance.
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today.”
Make mistakes of ambition.
It’s better to be in over your head than to not be challenged at all. One guarantees growth, the other stagnation.
Competition as a necessity.
It sounds odd to say, but something I miss so much in sports is genuinely disliking the people you’re playing against. I still play basketball all the time in Austin, but it’s all great people, and while the games are competitive, they are friendly. As they should be. I wouldn’t want it any other way for private runs. I just miss stepping on the court, looking at the other team, and having the ancient tribal part of my mind rage. A man needs enemies, or at least a men’s league.
