Seth Godin says now--right now--is the best time to
transform your life. Here's how
Are you serious about transformation? We are not talking
about polishing yourself, improving yourself, making things a bit better,
faster or richer. We are talking about the RESET button—a REINNOVATION
that changes the game. That means an overhaul in what you believe and how you
do your job. If you’re up for that, then right here, right now, you can start.
How?
Do work that matters.
4. ACKNOWLEDGE THE LIZARD
That cringe you just felt when I wrote
“laugh” is the sign of the lizard. The lizard brain, that prehistoric brain
stem that all of us must contend with, doesn’t like being laughed at. It’s the
part of our brain that worries about safety and dishes out anger. Being laughed
at is the lizard brain’s worst nightmare. And so it shuts down our art.
Author Steven Pressfield calls this shutdown
“the Resistance.” The Resistance is the little voice in your head that
keeps your head down and encourages you to follow instructions. The Resistance
lives in fear and doesn’t hesitate to shut us down at the first sign of
possible derision or the first hint that we might be ostracized. The Resistance
is the voice complicit in brainwashing, because The Resistance is easy to
arouse. When your teacher threatens you with marks or physical punishment, if
you don’t do your work in school, you do the work. The Resistance wins.
And so, we acknowledge the Resistance. We
hear the voice of the lizard brain, and we recognize that it’s there. Then we
stand up, walk to the podium and do the work anyway. We acknowledge the lizard,
and we ignore it.
