Yet more wisdom from the pen of Seth Godin:
People seem to be in one of two categories:
- Those who seek stability, affiliation, work worth doing and the assurance it (whatever ‘it‘ is) will be okay.
- Those who explore, need to know that failure is an option and quest to make a dent in the universe.
You can be in either category, the world needs and rewards both. But pick a brand and a job and a posture that matches your category, or you’ll fail, and be miserable until you do.
Hint: there is no category of: “does risky exploration, never fails.”
I’d be prepared to argue that “work worth doing” isn’t exclusive to the first category. I think quite a bit of exploration is in order to find work worth doing. Just a thought.
I agree. Good point!
It’s funny though how failure is differently interpreted by different explorers… I once spoke to Krzysztof Wielicki, right after their failed winter attempt on K2 in 2003. As he’d been very succesful until that moment, I asked him how it felt to finally fail. He laughed and said “Fail? Man, it was K2 in the winter and we are all back here!” – a good PR answer, but it sounded really genuine too.
Oh, and hello everyone by the way – my first comment here. Great blog Al, went bivying last weekend!
Do you think a person chooses one or the other as a child or as an adult? I suppose it could be to do with nurture – parent’s have a lot of influence on their kids but I suppose that could send you both ways, rebel and get away from normality or be whipped in to line!
People can always flick between the two I suppose – having children or getting married might make you think twice about attempting K2 or whatever!
I’ve said suppose a lot! But you get the point!
better a live donkey than a dead lion.