Dan Sherman

Fear shortage, hope mongering and Barack Obama

Today, Seth Godin made some very good points about fear mongering. In particular, I like his call that it should be regulated or even banned. Instead, he is in favor of hope mongering.

Feeling inspired by this, I quickly checked to see if hopemongering.com was registered. Not only is it registered, but the domain forwards to BarackObama.com. The domain was registered privately, so I can’t see if it was done by the President’s campaign team or if some ingenious supporter did it for them. But it put a smile on my face.

Seth Godin give such great talks.

I am disappointed at people who hesitate to start something important because they’re just waiting to learn enough or know enough or to figure out the answer.

Seth Godin

He’s right. It’s seldom an issue of knowing enough. More likely, though, is that people are afraid. I know that’s how it is for me a lot of the time. I hesitate to start new things because I’m afraid someone will point out my inexperience, or find a hole in my knowledge.

I guess starting a new venture is easier for people who are building off previous experience. But what bedrock of confidence to people pull from when they’re in uncharted territory?

And that’s the key to the paradox of effort: While luck may be more appealing than effort, you don’t get to choose luck. Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time.