Nothing sharpens the mind like the end.
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Fearless
Two months ago a friend decided to shut down his startup. He’d spent the last year pivoting and hadn’t got the results. But he changed his mind. He decided to try and sell it.
In the two month since he’s gone from strength to strength. The traction, that was so elusive all year, finally arrived. It all happened because he prepared for the end.
He was ready to shut it all down. Once you have seriously entertained the worst case, what is there to be afraid of?
Fear plays such a destructive role in life. It blinds us, slows us down, and puts us on edge. Rarely does it fulfil the life saving function for which it’s designed. Company meeting rooms just aren’t that life threatening.
Consider the worst case and you combat the fear. Combat the fear and you clear the mind.
Morbid
Perhaps the highlight of my 2019 silent retreat was a meditation on death. Filipe, a Peruvian monk, guided us through 20 minutes of imagining ourselves in the ground. Picture yourself, in the soil, slowly decomposing. Worms picking at you.
Bleak, isn’t it?
But it was incredible. I’ve never felt more alive than when stepping outside after that session. I could feel every ounce of life coursing through my body.
The principle is the same. Spend time sitting with the thing we fear most. Death. Then nothing seems quite so serious. In that moment you see everything before death for what it is: a bonus to be cherished.
Loss
Humans are averse to loss. We become irrationally fearful when it comes to what we have. That’s why startups are so scary. What if we lose this all?
So what? The irony is that you have a much better chance of making something of it if you’re not paralysed by fear.
Mediating on the end helps you realise how little it all matters. Money, fame, success. When all is said and done it counts for nothing. The good news is that means the pressure is off. You’ve got nothing to lose.
My Week in Books📚
The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischvili
Incredible. A story of a family in 20th century Georgia. Six generations across two World Wars and the Cold War. Fiction but a beautiful insight into life in the Soviet Union. Such a wonderful book. Although be warned: it’s very long. Even so, I couldn’t recommend more highly.
Thank you Ma for the recommendation. 🙏
I’ll be updating the books I’ve read this year here. Any recommendations? Let me know!
A Final Thought 💡
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose”
– Steve Jobs