Currently reading Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday.
I’ve known about this book for years, but I’ve always struggled to read his writing. It felt a bit self-aggrandised to me. Almost like someone trying to lecture me on his own virtue.
Anyway, I have a confession to make.
I run a group called Bitcoin Works. In-person meetups, whether I’m living in Edinburgh or Dubai, for Bitcoin enthusiasts and builders. People come along and talk through ideas for Bitcoin businesses they want to build.
In those conversations, if someone shared an idea and I couldn’t see how it would make money, I’d say so. I’d start poking holes. Steering them away from it. Like I’m some kind of oracle 🔮🤨
The word courage comes from the Latin cor, meaning heart. To encourage someone is literally to put heart into them. To discourage someone is to take it away. I think I’ve been inadvertently discouraging people from trying new things. Taking people’s hearts away.
What I should have done is encourage them to follow that idea to its own logical conclusion. Even if the project ultimately failed, the act of pursuing it would have generated courage. Courage to try the next thing. And the thing after that. That’s a far greater net benefit than my assessment of one business model.
My partner Megan believes this may be because I have so many battle scars from projects that went nowhere. All that sweat and tears poured into things that didn’t pan out. She thinks it comes from a place of care.
I think it’s worse than that. I think it’s been coming from a place of fear.
The fear of being part of another failed project, even indirectly. The fear of having to expend empathy on others who try and fail.
Bitcoin Studios is a different beast. That’s where I assess business models for what I want to work on myself. My oracle abilities are still very much in question, but if I incorrectly limit my own courage, that’s my own lesson to learn.
More to come on this. Stoicism, again, to the rescue 🦸♂️
I’ve known about this book for years, but I’ve always struggled to read his writing. It felt a bit self-aggrandised to me. Almost like someone trying to lecture me on his own virtue.
Anyway, I have a confession to make.
I run a group called Bitcoin Works. In-person meetups, whether I’m living in Edinburgh or Dubai, for Bitcoin enthusiasts and builders. People come along and talk through ideas for Bitcoin businesses they want to build.
In those conversations, if someone shared an idea and I couldn’t see how it would make money, I’d say so. I’d start poking holes. Steering them away from it. Like I’m some kind of oracle 🔮🤨
The word courage comes from the Latin cor, meaning heart. To encourage someone is literally to put heart into them. To discourage someone is to take it away. I think I’ve been inadvertently discouraging people from trying new things. Taking people’s hearts away.
What I should have done is encourage them to follow that idea to its own logical conclusion. Even if the project ultimately failed, the act of pursuing it would have generated courage. Courage to try the next thing. And the thing after that. That’s a far greater net benefit than my assessment of one business model.
My partner Megan believes this may be because I have so many battle scars from projects that went nowhere. All that sweat and tears poured into things that didn’t pan out. She thinks it comes from a place of care.
I think it’s worse than that. I think it’s been coming from a place of fear.
The fear of being part of another failed project, even indirectly. The fear of having to expend empathy on others who try and fail.
Bitcoin Studios is a different beast. That’s where I assess business models for what I want to work on myself. My oracle abilities are still very much in question, but if I incorrectly limit my own courage, that’s my own lesson to learn.
More to come on this. Stoicism, again, to the rescue 🦸♂️