The original Starbuck was the first mate on the whaling ship the Pequod in the classic novel by Herman Melville, Moby Dick. 

Starbuck was a calm and pragmatic man. In his role as first mate he was the balance and ballast to the madness of Captain Ahab.  As Starbuck assembled his crew for the whaling expedition he said, “I will have no man on my boat who is not afraid of a whale.”

Fear of the whale would keep a man in check, not to be too rash, to respect the behemoth, and for goodness’ sake, don’t die of bravery.

From an evolutionary standpoint, fear serves a useful purpose.  Most of us would not have survived our childhoods without a healthy dose of fear.  As adults, maybe we are no longer scared of the dark, our closets, or deep water anymore, but we still all have fears.  And perhaps not surprisingly, most of our fears are related to other people. 

Common fears are fear of public speaking, fear of making a sales call, fear of your boss, fear of what your neighbours will think and on and on.  These fears can prevent us from taking action on things we may really want to do.  Like making that sales call, or asking for a raise, or a date, or fill-in-your-blank.

I don’t know who said it first, but there is power and truth in the saying, “Acknowledge your fear and act anyway”.  Give your fear a nod and a thumb’s up.  Let it know it has a right to exist.  Identify it, let it breathe.  Then take action anyway. 

Go whaling.

Thank you for reading, your comments, questions, ideas and suggestions are always welcome.  You can comment here, or choose between Facebook, Twitter, or the contact button.  

Enjoy!