Articles about Courage & Fear

by Brad Bollenbach

The first step is to find out what you love–and don’t be practical about it. The second is to start doing what you love immediately, in any small way possible.
– Barbara Sher
There have been three key moments in my life so far that have, more than anything else, shaped who I am today. In every [...]



by Brad Bollenbach

Flow with whatever is happening and let your mind be free. Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.
– Chuang Tzu
95% of everything you’ll ever need to know about meeting women can be summed up in four words: Go with the flow. Instead of trying to meet girls, focus entirely on [...]



by Brad Bollenbach

While flying back home from Christmas vacation last night, I had a “Tollegasm” on the plane, after reading the following passage. The context of this quote is that Eckhart Tolle is explaining the apparent conflict between living in the moment and achieving big, hairy, audacious goals. How can you achieve greatness if your attention is [...]



by Brad Bollenbach

Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.
– Isaac Asimov
Happiness is hard work. While personal development sometimes gets a bad rap, it’s nothing more, and nothing less, than the process of curiosity, self-education, and hard work, that gives you the knowledge and skills to make your life as juicy as you [...]



by Brad Bollenbach

First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you.
– Dr. Rob Gilbert
Success is largely a function of habits. Habits might be things you do every day, every week, or every month, or they might be patterned responses you have to particular situations. For example, if you want [...]



by Brad Bollenbach

It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you aren’t thinking for yourself, you aren’t thinking. [...]



by Brad Bollenbach

All I want to do, ever, is play chess.
– Bobby Fischer
Between the ages of 14 and 18, I wanted nothing more than to be the next Bobby Fischer. Sure, I started a bit late by World Champion standards, but I wasn’t going to let that slow me down. I read several books on Fischer’s [...]



by Brad Bollenbach

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today.
– Dale Carnegie
It’s Friday night and you’re getting ready to go out. You shower, [...]



by Brad Bollenbach

Open source software is, roughly speaking, software released under a license that permits its users to use, modify, and redistribute the software in almost any way they see fit. This provides users of open source software a degree of liberty that is simply not found in proprietary alternatives. While it’s a bit silly and idealistic [...]



by Brad Bollenbach

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable but more useful than a life spent in doing nothing.
– George Bernard Shaw
A couple months ago I wrote an article on embracing rejection, the idea of which was that you can go a long way in life simply by developing a tolerance for blowouts. The [...]