153“Oh, do you really think I’m good at that?” we ask,
when someone compliments us. If we’re persuaded that
they are being honest and have made a good case, we
might try to alter our self-image upward.
It’s great getting feedback from others, especially
positive feedback. We all need it to live and feel good.
But when it’s all we’ve got, we’re in danger of being far
less than we could be, because our self-image always
depends on others. And all they see is what we’re risk-
ing right now. What they never see is what’s inside of
us, waiting to emerge. Because they can’t see that, they
will always underrate us.
Your journey can be internal. You can travel deeper
and deeper inside to find out your own potential. Your
potential is your true identity—it only waits for self-
motivation to come alive.
“For this is the journey that men and women make,”
said James A. Michener, “to find themselves. If they fail
in this, it doesn’t matter much else what they find.”
Let positive reinforcement and compliments be a
mere seasoning to your life. But prepare your life’s meal
yourself. Don’t look outside yourself to find out who you
are, look inside and create who you are.
72. Go to war
Anthony Burgess was 40 when he learned that he
had a brain tumor that would kill him within a year. He
knew he had a battle on his hands. He was completely
broke at the time, and he didn’t have anything to leave
behind for his wife, Lynne, soon to be a widow.
Burgess had never been a professional novelist in
the past, but he always knew the potential was inside
him to be a writer. So, for the sole purpose of leaving
Go to war