She came across a book “that I had to read” – and she was going to get it for me. How did I want it; in book form or audio? Well, if you want me to get to it quick give it to me in audio; I’ll have plenty of time to listen to it in Atlanta traffic – on the way to work. How enthusiastic was that?
Then it showed up: Seth Godin’s The Icarus Deception; How High Will You Fly? And listen I did! Three times! Then I signed up for Seth’s daily blog, and when he launched Krypton College I organized and led three sessions. During the inaugural Krypton session, I pledged to my fellow participants to launch my Blog July 2014 (only after talking about it for YEARS). It was up-and-running May 2014 and fully launched in September. To keep my momentum going, I ordered Icarus in book form so I could sit back and savor it once more. Okay – I’m enthusiastic now!
What is it about this book that strikes such a chord? What resonates so strongly for me? Seth is calling me to create art. Create my art – and put it out there – out in the world. He calls me to join the connection economy. The world I was born to, our great industrial age, is waning. Seth explains we are in the midst of change – change from the industrial worldview to something new. This change requires us to behave differently. I feel it. I see it around me. Lucky me, haven’t been pinched by it financially (yet), but I have good friends who have. Instead of waiting to be picked – picked by a company to be their employee, by a publisher to write a book, by a record label to create music – Seth calls us to pick ourselves.
But we are not brought up to pick ourselves. We are taught to be quiet and fit in, regurgitate our lessons on standardized tests. Wait to be chosen – for prestigious schools, the next rung on the ladder. We are taught to swallow the story that to buy-buy-buy and keep up with the Jones’ is good for the economy. Why do I need that car, that house, those shoes? Who am I trying to impress? And we wonder why we are so dissatisfied and unfulfilled. Why Friday is the best day of the week.
But to Pick Myself! Scary! Unproven! Risky! NOOOOO….. you will surely laugh my butt off the stage.
There is no map or guaranteed method of success. Uncomfortable! According to Seth when “faced with a choice of dying inside as the world mechanizes or confronting the fear that we have been indoctrinated with, many may choose the path of quiet desperation.” These words remind me of another sage philosopher, Henry David Thoreau who in Walden, observed that “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
Why? Why are we so scared? And of what? Me – my fear is that I’ll end up on the streets as a toothless bag lady. Really?
Again, Seth says we can give in to our fear – it is our “privilege…but understand that it’s a choice.” My choice. Your choice. Am I going to wait around for someone to pick me? Or am I going to pick myself?
Thank you my dearest friend for bringing me this book that lit my fire – I am PICKING MYSELF!!
“Fear doesn’t go away. The warrior and the artist live by the same code of necessity, which dictates that the battle must be fought anew every day.” Steven Pressfield
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