In the past, a well-developed need for procrastination held me back from meeting my goals. What I thought was measured caution was really uncertainty as to my chances of success. This affected my working career as well as writing and my personal life, leading me to approach tasks trying to not fail rather than to succeed.
Realizing this, I attempted to resist such a destructive tendency and plow into goals with at least a certainty that I would ‘leave it all on the field’ as they say. This lead to a professional career that had some successes, but more importantly involved errors of commission rather than those of omission. Since we learn from our mistakes, it’s easier to have examples of specific failure, rather than specific inaction.
I’m not sure where I first heard of ‘In for a Penny, In for a Pound.’ It shows up in English literature, first in Edward Ravenscroft’s Canterbury Guests, and later in Dickens. It originally referenced debt, indicating that the usury rates were so extreme, that a debt for a British pound wasn’t much worse than for a penny.
Later, it was used to reference plunging into a task whole-heartedly rather than with trepidation. I’ve used this term in a few of my works to reference this latest definition and try to use it as a guidepost to personal tasks.
Life is a lot like gambling with house money. Might as well go for it since we’re all going to leave the table someday. Better to go bust rather than watching the guy next to you hit blackjack.
Realizing this, I attempted to resist such a destructive tendency and plow into goals with at least a certainty that I would ‘leave it all on the field’ as they say. This lead to a professional career that had some successes, but more importantly involved errors of commission rather than those of omission. Since we learn from our mistakes, it’s easier to have examples of specific failure, rather than specific inaction.
I’m not sure where I first heard of ‘In for a Penny, In for a Pound.’ It shows up in English literature, first in Edward Ravenscroft’s Canterbury Guests, and later in Dickens. It originally referenced debt, indicating that the usury rates were so extreme, that a debt for a British pound wasn’t much worse than for a penny.
Later, it was used to reference plunging into a task whole-heartedly rather than with trepidation. I’ve used this term in a few of my works to reference this latest definition and try to use it as a guidepost to personal tasks.
Life is a lot like gambling with house money. Might as well go for it since we’re all going to leave the table someday. Better to go bust rather than watching the guy next to you hit blackjack.