Submitted by: Jeff Brown(5,754) Jeff Brown Inner Projection Log in to become a member of Jeff Brown's Fan Club!
I grew up so introverted, scared, and shy that I literally didn't speak to a single stranger until I was twenty-five. I was so shy in school that when a teacher asked me to drop some test papers off at another teacher's classroom I couldn't do it because there was a class in session. I didn't have to say anything. All I had to do was knock on the door and give them to whoever answered. However, when I saw that there was a class in session, I turned around, went outside and dropped the papers under a bush by the door. The teachers, of course, asked me what had happened. I did what I normally did when people spoke to me. I said nothing.
As I said above, I decided at twenty-five that enough was enough and began putting myself in front of the public as often as I could. I'd volunteer at comedy clubs, seminars, assemblies, where ever and when ever to just get in front of people. I also joined a rock band and eventually did standup comedy. Imagine being the shyest person on the face of the earth (I know, I checked with the dead) and waiting for your five minutes of agony and shame to stand in front of strangers expecting you to make them laugh. Me, someone who didn't even talk to people.
What was it like? Imagine the most scared you've ever been and then multiply that by 24/7 times two. I was a bundle of nerves every moment of every day for two weeks. And when the time came to perform, what did I do? I got out one joke and choked. I then proceeded to bang the microphone off my head, talk to people about their jobs, and left after four minutes of hell.
What did I do next? I got back up on the horse and did it over and over again until five years later I was doing forty minutes and a damn good job of making those strangers laugh. To do my comedy, I moved away from family and friends, first to Boston then to LA, all by myself without any support.
How do we grow? We simply ask great things of ourselves and wait for the response: "Certainly, I'll take that challenge."
Since that time, I have spoken, lectured, performed in front of tens, hundreds, thousands of people. And I'm now more comfortable in front of a crowd than I am on my couch in my own living room.
None of us are who we think we are. We are not shy for life. That can change. We are not lazy. That can change. Poor. Stupid. Ugly. Whatever we begin with can be changed, only if we believe it to be so.
Eleanor Roosevelt was a shy person who came into her own when her husband became president. And she became known far and wide for the great things she did for the underprivileged. But to overcome her shyness she embraced her fear until it turned from her a lamb in wolf's clothing.
But to be successful, remmeber that convention is always suspect:
Question Yourself. Trust only What others say about you Johnny Beatific
Before sanctifying quantum mechanics, evolution, your religion of choice, Dismiss these opinions, place them On the back burner and turn up the heat.
Anything that makes sense Put in a folder marked Pending. Withdraw all your money and give it To the neighborhood prophet, the one
You run from screaming each day. Ask your youngest about the latest on afterlife. Get your dog his slippers and paper. Not the Times! He's got a pad on the Pulse of a blue chip market.
When lunching in public, chew loudly, burp often. Leave dinner for other functions. For breakfast, give yourself a break. When driving keep your eyes off the road.
When walking try your hands instead. Open a door for the advantaged. Tell the needy to do the same.
If at any point you find yourself Laughing uncontrollably Look for me. I'm the one breaking bread With Buddha, Groucho, And Nietzsche the whimsical one (Jeff Brown: Convention is Suspect)
Risk and Reward:
"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."-- Robert F. Kennedy
"I'd rather regret the things I have done than the things I have not."-- Lucille Ball
"...the creator of the new composition in the arts is an outlaw until he is a classic."- Gertrude Stein
"A fool is someone whose pencil wears out before its eraser does."-- Marilyn vos Savant
"He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery."-- Samuel Smiles
"Show me a person who has never made a mistake and I'll show you somebody who has never achieved much."-- Joan Collins
"If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative."-- Woody Allen
"However well organized the foundations of life may be, life must always be full of risks."-- Havelock Ellis
"If you're not making mistakes, you're not taking risks, and that means you're not going anywhere. The key is to make mistakes faster than the competition, so you have more changes to learn and win."-- John W. Holt, Jr.
"If you are never scared, embarrassed, or hurt, it means you never take chances."-- Julia Soul
"Chance is always powerful. Let your hook be always cast. In the pool where you least expect it, will be a fish."-- Ovid
"Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat."-- Theodore Roosevelt
"Of course we all have our limits, but how can you possibly find your boundaries unless you explore as far and as wide as you possibly can? I would rather fail in an attempt at something new and uncharted than safely succeed in a repeat of something I have done."-- A.E. Hotchner
"And the trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even more."-- Erica Jong
"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one."-- Elbert Hubbard
"Take chances, make mistakes. That's how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave."-- Mary Tyler Moore
"Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball."-- Billie Jean King
"Creativity is allowing oneself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."-- Scott Adams
"Art is making something out of nothing and selling it."-- Frank Zappa
"To imagine is everything, to know is nothing at all."-- Anatole France
"To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything."-- Anatole France
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."-- Albert Einstein
"All acts performed in the world begin in the imagination."-- Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
"Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The "sure thing" boat never gets far from shore."-- Dale Carnegie
"Twenty years from now you will be disappointed by things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover."-- Mark Twain
"If you wait for opportunities to occur, you will be one of the crowd."-- Edward de Bono
"You can't cross the sea merely by staring at the water."-- Rabindranath Tagore
"He that will not sail till all dangers are over must never put to sea."-- Thomas Fuller
"A ship in harbor is safe, But that is not what ships are built for."- unknown
"Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out."-- James B. Conant
"Self-confidence is the result of a successfully survived risk."-- Jack Gibb
"Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice. Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble."-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Why not go out on a limb? Isn't that where the fruit is?"-- Frank Scully
"Some things cannot be spoken or discovered until we have been stuck, incapacitated, or blown off course for awhile. Plain sailing is pleasant, but you are not going to explore many unknown realms that way."-- David Whyte
"Always do what you are afraid to do."-- Ralph Waldo
"The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do."-- Walter Bagehot
"My mother gave me a bumblebee pin when I started work. She said: 'Aerodynamically, bees shouldn't be able to fly. But they do. Remember that.'"-- Jill E. Barad
"Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was."-- Dag Hammarskjold
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."-- Mario Andretti
"We don't know who we are until we see what we can do."-- Martha Grimes
"The minute you settle for less than you deserve, you get even less than you settled for."-- Maureen Dowd
"Progress always involves risk; you can't steal second base and keep your foot on first."-- Frederick Wilcox
"A failure is like fertilizer; it stinks to be sure, but it makes things grow faster in the future."-- Dennis Waitley
"Commit yourself to a dream. Nobody who tries to do something great but fails is a total failure. Why? Because he can always rest assured that he succeeded in life's most important battle - he defeated the fear of trying."-- Robert Schuller
"Procrastination is the fear of success. People procrastinate because they are afraid of the success that they know will result if they move ahead now. Because success is heavy, carries a responsibility with it, it is much easier to procrastinate and live on the "someday I'll" philosophy."-- Denis Waitley
To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach for another is to risk involvement. To expose your feelings is to risk exposing your true self. To place your ideas, your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To believe is to risk despair. To try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live. Chained by their attitudes they are slaves; they have forfeited their freedom. Only a person who risks is free. ~ Anonymous Chicago teacher
Jeff has written 100's of essays and articles;over 50 poems; and several books: Now available are his motivational works Black Body Radiation and the Ultraviolet Catastrophe at Amazon.com and ToDie at the Age of Man at Lulu.com; Coming soon: Give and Grow Yourself Rich (May, 2008); Education is a Waste of Time, (late 2008); and a children's novella The Search for Adriana (late 2008). Currently, he teaches writing and owns Inner Projection, a self-improvement business.
zeke from abrams (43 days 6 hours ago.)
Excellent, Jeff Brown. Excellent. You put the hammer to the nails and drove them home. Excellent. The job you did here deserves more than a comment. You Done Well!!!! Excellent. Respond to this comment
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