Dare to be bold by Matt Cheuvront

Our arts, our occupations, our marriages, our religion, we have not chosen, but society has chosen for us. We are parlour soldiers. We shun the rugged battle of fate, where strength is born. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Next to Resistance, rational thought is the artist or entrepreneurs worst enemy. Bad things happen when we employ rational thought, because rational thought comes from the ego. Instead, we want to work from the Self, that is, from instinct and intuition, from the unconscious.

A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. Its only you and I, with our big brains and our tiny hearts, who doubt and overthink and hesitate.” – Steven Pressfield, Do the Work

The idea of “being realistic” holds all of us back. From starting a business or quitting a job to dating someone who may not be our type or moving to a new place – getting “real” often means putting your dreams on hold.

Today, let’s take a step away from rational thought and dare to be bold. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to accomplish but have been afraid to pursue? Write it down. Also write down the obstacles in your way of reaching your goal. Finally, write down a tangible plan to overcome each obstacle.

The only thing left is to, you know, actually go make it happen. What are you waiting for?

(Author: Matt Cheuvront)

Boldness has never been much of a challenge for me. Thankfully, I recently indulged myself in one of the boldest ideas of my life. Successful? No. Educational? More than anything else.

The quote cited here, not of Emerson but of Pressfield, speaks to me especially strongly. I have come to realize over the past year that one of my greatest liabilities is my big brain.

I have a lifelong pride in my intellect. My ability to learn new things, and gain competency in an unknown field in a remarkably short period of time, has led me to depend upon it, like a crutch.

Instead of maximizing my available time by hiring experts in every field, I have attempted to accomplish every facet of every project that I work upon, because I know that I can.

However, just because I can do something, it doesnt mean that I should.

This hit me home, finally, when I edited a TV show last month. I had always wanted to learn Multi-Camera Editing, and I think it’s fun to learn new things.

But now I have my own multimedia company, and my place is not in the editing bay. It is in front of clients, closing deals, and managing a team of digital ninjas that do my bidding.

My conflict is that I really LIKED doing the editing. For now, anyway. Inevitably, when I master something, I lose interest in favor of something more challenging and new on my horizon.

One thing that never loses its challenge, or its newness, is the next client that needs to communicate digitally in a different way from my last client. This is finally a position for which I can allow for my wander, of attention and interest.

The boldness I must assume, then, is in becoming a manager of talent.

I am going to discard my intellect, and engage my heart, which will allow my dreams to truly manifest. I want to employ a team of one hundred creatives in all fields, all; working on projects that I envision.

One hundred creatives, writers and designers, graphic artists and web developers, my 100 digital ninjas will serve my bidding in my techno-compound high on a mountaintop.

Every day will commence at noon, after email has been checked and the web has been surfed. For a lunchtime meeting, we will all huddle in our teams, to co-ordinate our projects and delegate responsibilities.

And then, we turn on the music, and allow people to create.

My 100 digital ninjas will consistently put out quality work, that can be molded to communicate the client’s message in new and exciting ways. We get attention, and our clients pay us top dollar for our ingenuity.

Its not really my ingenuity. I just place myself at the center of the web, and allow the projects to coalesce in my orbit.

That is my proper place. In the center of 100 digital ninjas. Only a man of boldness with a big heart can reside there.