“A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.”
— Ayn Rand
With the right marketing, Ralph W. Emerson would place himself under the Technorati top-100 bloggers list; possesing the impact of a Tim Ferris, a Ramit Sethi, and a Seth Godin. His fans would grow and his influence would be felt in log-cabins with WIFI capability, at educational institutions, and by corporate executives sitting in upholstered Italian recliners.
Perhaps he would post articles with catchy titles like, “From Masses of Sheep to Ladies and Gentleman With Unparalleled Regard for The Virtue of the Self,”- you know, the types of titles that really strike the hearts of our Jersey Shore watching youth;- or perhaps “How Britney Spears doth Teach Individuality to The Soul” would relate more with our culture.
Heck, I would read it simply for its content. Pick up Emerson’s “Self Reliance” and you will see the confidence that can quickly be learned from his Stoic way of thinking, and confidence doesn’t just change the stock market.
It changes everything.
Self-Reliance
Emerson was one of the founding fathers of non-conformity. He saw social norms and obligations- things like: always say yes so as to not be rude, worry about whose feelings you may hurt, do as you are told by your employers, don’t push the envelope, walk this line, be consistent, only some people are born great, read this bible, work this many hours, live this particular type of life- all these things he saw as paramount to the abolition of the self.
He thought outside the box- that bordered way of thinking that leaves little room for entrepreneurs and leaders. He taught that:
“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.
This philosophy is ingested, digested, and implanted in the thoughts of all movers and shakers. Think about it: how many exceptionally innovative companies have there been that accomplished what they did with timidity as their primary business partner?
It is a philosophy that we can use to get to the top of the mountains we want to climb. It all starts with a little reading and a lot of application.
Emerson taught that we should trust our intuition: all great men teach the same. History has taught us that one man can create and expand an Empire (think Caesar, Martin Luther King Jr., Lincoln, Socrates, Sam Walton, Walt Disney, Howard Schultz, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates).
What will your history teach?
“I hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Remember, being safe is risky.
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