To walk lightly through the world, with confidence and energy, is far more compelling than plodding along, worn down by the weight on your shoulders.

When we are light on our feet we make better decisions, bring joy to those around us and find the flexibility to do good work.

There are two ways to achieve this.

The first is take the weight away. To refuse to do work that’s important. To not care about the outcome. Whatever.

The second is to eagerly embrace the weight of our commitment but to commit to being light, regardless. This is the surgeon who can enjoy doing brain surgery, not because surgery isn’t important, but because it is.

The work is the work, regardless of whether you decide to be ground down by it.
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It might be tempting to try to relieve yourself of responsibility, but it’s a downward spiral, a path to banal industrialism. Better, I think, to learn to dance with it.

To take it seriously, not personally.


Seth Godin has written fourteen books that have been translated into more than thirty languages. Every one has been a bestseller. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership, and, most of all, changing everything.

Image courtesy of Ganesh Raghunathan.