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The internal debate about confidence calls to mind a well-known concept from the radio pioneer Ira Glass, which could be called the Taste/Talent Gap. All of us who do creative work . . . we get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there’s a gap, that for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good . . . It’s really not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good. But your taste—the thing that got you into the game—your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you. It is in precisely this gap that ego can seem comforting. Who wants to look at themselves and their work and find that it does not measure up? And so here we might bluster our way through. Cover up hard truths with sheer force of personality and drive and passion. Or, we can face our shortcomings honestly and put the time in. We can let this humble us, see clearly where we are talented and where we need to improve, and then put in the work to bridge that gap. And we can set upon positive habits that will last a lifetime.
Ego Is the Enemy
Ryan Holiday
In one of the most famous photographs of Albert Einstein, taken in Santa Barbara, California, in 1933, the happy-looking genius is having a merry time riding his bike. He was once quoted as saying, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”
The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing
Philip Maffetone and Mark Allen
The weather over the Atlantic was still unspeakable (what was going on out there?) when events in Prague reached a climax. The Czechs, as punishment for standing firm, were being treated shabbily by their two great allies. At 2:15 A.M. on September 21, the British and French ministers to Czechoslovakia routed President Eduard Benes out of bed and bluntly told him that their governments intended to break their covenants. In spite of their pledged word, they would not march; either the Czechs would capitulate to the Nazi dictator or they would be left to fight alone. All through the day Benes, staggering from fatigue, consulted with his cabinet, party leaders, and generals. At about five o’clock that afternoon of September 21 his government submitted. A Czech communiqué explained to the world: “We had no choice, because we were left alone.” Benes said, “We have been basely betrayed.”
The Glory and the Dream
William Manchester
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