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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
Uncertainty summary
Jonathan Fields
Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance
18 mins
Table of Contents
Uncertainty
summarized in 8 key ideas
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Key idea 1 of 8
Risk is always connected to anxiety, fear and criticism.
Think about the last time you had to make a decision which involved taking a gamble. How did you feel? Nervous and anxious, right?
Risk is always associated with the possibility of loss, which is what makes us so scared. When we create something, we need to give it some kind of input, such as effort or money. But if we fail, we run the risk of losing some or even all of this input.
If the possibility of loss – of money or our reputation, for example – is too high, we shy away from investing in new ideas and shut off our options in order to maintain the security and stability that already exists in our lives.
It follows, then, that those of us who have the most to lose, maybe because we have a mortgage to pay or a family to look after, are often the ones who are most wary of taking risks.
But why else do we curtail risk? Well, taking risks and thinking outside the box sometimes invites judgment, and we hate being criticized for our actions.
When we try something new, others are likely to observe us and judge us if we go against norms and traditions. This is often because others believe that following an unknown path with an unknown consequence could leave us unnecessarily exposed. This judgment may come from the people who support us, our investors or even from ourselves.
But judgment and fear of criticism can be toxic to our confidence and inhibit our creativity.
Take one experiment from Harvard, which found that painters are less creative when working on commission. This is because they are forced to deliver something that matches the purchaser’s expectations rather than experiment with new things.
The reality is that uncertainty makes us uncomfortable because we don’t want to fail in front of others. But you can take action to fight this fear.
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What is Uncertainty about?
Uncertainty (2011) offers us the chance to tackle our fear of failure and the unknown, and discover the steps we can take to be focused, productive, confident and successful.
Best quote from Uncertainty
Anything certain has already been done.
—Jonathan Fields
Who should read Uncertainty?
- Creatives who want to make the most of their potential
- Anyone who has to deal with uncertainty and stress in their profession
- Anyone who wants to understand the secret of people who seem to have no fear
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