I’ve noticed that the deepest fears of ambitious people are always in some meta class. I’ve too often heard some version of “not living up to my potential”. I don’t understand how this can be a fear. Naturally, a fear has to be something so innate that it can’t be solved logically. But this “fear” has natural steps to combat it. Simply work as hard as you possibly can, and you will by definition live up to your potential. Contrastingly, there isn’t much I feel like I can do to combat my fear of mosquitoes.
Some other fears I have:
Being on the wrong side of things in life.
As I age, there are an increasing number of big bets I have to make. Mostly on what type of person I want to be, how I view others, and how I spend my time. What if I make a wrong bet?
- What if the deferred life plan is actually worth it?
- What if a company I decide to work on/at loses to a competitor because of an execution diff?
- What if sacrificing my social life to work amounts to 0 impact?
- What if my mentors are on the wrong side too?
- What if the people I mentor end up on the wrong side?
I don’t want this to be confused with being wrong. I love being wrong, but only when I can find out that I was, in fact, wrong. These are things that I’ll only know the answer to on my deathbed. And maybe not even then.
Pain
I would say both emotional and physical pain, but luckily I haven’t felt much emotional pain in my life. Physical pain sucks though.