20 September 2006

You can do it!

My Dad just sent me this inspiring quote by Marianne Williamson from A Return To Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
For me, at least, this is true and reading it reminded me of a great post by Seth Godin on ways to defend the status quo:
Top ways to defend the status quo
  1. "That will never work."
  2. "... That said, the labor laws make it difficult for us to do a lot of the suggestions [you] put out. And we do live in a lawsuit oriented society.""
  3. "Can you show me some research that demonstrates that this will work?"
  4. "Well, if you had some real-world experience, then you would understand."
  5. "I don't think our customers will go for that, and without them we'd never be able to afford to try this."
  6. "It's fantastic, but the salesforce won't like it."
  7. "The salesforce is willing to give it a try, but [major retailer] won't stock it."
  8. "There are government regulations and this won't be permitted."
  9. "Well, this might work for other people, but I think we'll stick with what we've got."
  10. "We'll let someone else prove it works... it won't take long to catch up."
  11. "Our team doesn't have the technical chops to do this."
  12. "Maybe in the next budget cycle."
  13. "We need to finish this initiative first."
  14. "It's been done before."
  15. "It's never been done before."
  16. "We'll get back to you on this."
  17. "We're already doing it."
Let these phrases be warning signs for your mind. There is greatness to be had, don't let it slip through your fingers!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's interesting to read that quote your dad sent because it's the exact same quote used in the movie Coach Carter towards the end which did seem a little 'heavy' at the time. I presume they gave credit where due but as I didn't see the credits I don't know.