Who knows what will happen tomorrow? I mean, just a year ago we were doing wild things when greeting others including shaking hands and hugging. How things have changed.
I was listening to Dan Harris, author and past news anchor, on The Tim Ferriss Show. He spoke about having a panic attack on-air on Good Morning America in 2004 and how that changed his path and helped him find meditation and life balance. He grew up living with a mantra that his father taught him which was, “The price of security is insecurity.” So, he believed that you had to be stressed to climb to the top of the mountain. That was the price.
He also spoke with Tim about the Yerkes-Dodson Law which shows the connection between stress and performance. It explains that you need some pressure to take action and it can improve performance to a point, but when it gets to be too high it causes you to freeze up.
How often have we put undue pressure on ourselves to perform? How many times did we end up getting the job or the role or the score when it didn’t matter as much to us? And how many times did we miss the mark when the story we told ourselves was that the only thing that mattered in the world was making this one thing happen? How did that pressure affect our performance, our vibe, and how we presented ourselves?
How many times have we been our own worst enemy?
I was also listening to Dax Shepard interviewing Bill Gates on his podcast Armchair Expert and Bill Gates said something quite profound. Bill is a man who reads a bag of books each week and is using his incredible earnings to find global solutions to help countless people with things like sanitation, medical care, and renewable energy.
“I have this mindset that I’m still a student, and many people, as they become adults, leave that mindset,” Gates said. “You have to be willing to be confused. Most adults, the minute they start getting confused they’re like, ‘Oh, this isn’t for me, I’m not good at this.’ You kind of have to feel good about, ‘Wow, I just jumped in here and I am so confused.'”
The price of security is insecurity. Seen in another light.
Children just jump in and figure it out. Ask questions. Remain curious. As adults, we sometimes feel like we can’t look like we don’t know or don’t understand. We stay in our lane so that we seem in control. The thing is, it’s during that confusion and insecurity that we grow as lifelong learners. That is how we become all we were meant to be.
So, let’s embrace the insecurity of the times. The vulnerability of not knowing. The bravery of sitting in the confusion and putting up our hand with a question or putting out our hand for assistance.
The price of security is insecurity. Vulnerability is bravery. Let’s keep putting one foot in front of the other in this wonderful, uncertain journey called life.