100 Ways To Motivate Yourself, Third Edition

104. Leave yourself messages

I have certain messages, quotations, sayings that I read in the morning. There is one that I always read no matter what, and I will never move this one out of the line-up: “He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Our usual system is to not only avoid what we fear, but also to avoid knowing that we are avoiding things. We don’t know why we have this vague feeling of danger and insecurity. We just know it’s there.

Every day I practice this avoidance, I become weaker and more cowardly. I get scared more easily, sometimes by the smallest things—the phone ringing, an e-mail from a creditor. Courage and strength do not remain in place. The same is true with ...