Page 19 - Social Media Musings

Social Media Musings – Part III My Reflections on the Practice and Life
knowing the final score before a big game started. Yes, it would eliminate the stress and tension, but it would also eliminate the excitement and fun.
Doing the impossible is hard enough without the added weight of fear, self doubt and lack of faith.
We can use our creativity, our imagination and our ideas for wondrous epiphanies or useless worry. We face this choice every day, every hour. Choose to create, not destroy.
The irony of playing it safe is that it often creates unintended risks and consequences.
Sometimes the biggest risk is not taking one.
There’s a misconception that there is such a thing as playing it safe, such a thing as avoiding risks. The fact is the safest job, the safest career, the safest position, can be gone tomorrow. Companies close. Firms shutter. Markets change. Don’t shirk risks to embrace what appears to be safe and comfortable. It may not be there tomorrow. The safest choice sometimes, paradoxically, is embracing risk.
Some avoid opportunities - opportunities to write, to speak, to lead, to inspire - for fear of embarrassment. Let me tell you a secret. Embarrassment is inevitable if one chases these opportunities. It’s OK. You’ll move past the embarrassment. What you won’t move past is being too scared of embarrassment, costing you valuable opportunities.
No matter where you are at in your legal career, you’ve survived a lot. You’ll survive the rest of it.
The following is an old story that reflects how events are neither good nor bad, but how our reactions to them colors those events:
There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “May be,” the farmer replied.”
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “May be,” replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “May be,” answered the farmer.
The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “May be,” said the farmer.
Fear was the biggest obstacle to my professional development. Once I discarded it, my growth was exponential. There is healthy fear, but fear that takes root and metastasizes is the biggest challenge to your career.
Don’t argue or get angry with circumstances and don’t entertain others who do so. If
you can change the circumstances, change them. If you can accept them, accept them. And if you can neither change nor accept the circumstances, walk away from them. But
©2021 Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel
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