Speak Less by Laura Kimball
What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I once received a fortune cookie that read: “Speak less of your plans, you’ll get more done.” What’s one project that you’ve been sitting on and thinking about but haven’t made progress on? What’s stopping you? What would happen if you actually went for it and did it?
(Author: Laura Kimball)
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One project? I have half a dozen.
But one stands above all the others right now. I woke up at 4:30 this morning thinking about it, about how to make it happen and what it might look like. It's a speaking project, a presentation I tentatively call On Courage that will serve two purposes: first, it will bring history to life for kids in a way I don't think most of our classrooms do today; and second, it will encourage them to find their own courage and seek their own dreams.
What's stopping me? Time, and fear, and that little voice of insecurity that says What makes you think you can connect with kids? Who are you to even try to reach schools? Why would they listen even if you can make contact? You know, the usual stuff.
What would happen if I went for it? Well, in the worst case the little voice is right, people laugh at me--and I learn what I'm doing wrong and perhaps gain some idea how to do it differently in the future. In the best case, it's a great success--and I open a whole new avenue to chase my dreams.
So much for the little voice. So much for excuses. I'm inching forward!
HN
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