Technology and transportation have brought global competition to every skill, process, and product. It’s hard to be more precise than a robot, or more efficient than a computer. It’s hard to compete with cheap-labor countries, even for skilled work. Being good at something a million other people (or machines) do more cheaply, is not a recipe for a good time.

Smarter, faster, cheaper is hard (but not impossible) to win.

There’s another way to stand out from the crowd. When you create something new, lead something that might fail, go public with your message, interact with vulnerability — when you do scary things you give yourself an enormous advantage

There are many fantastic opportunities whose price of entry is the unusual willingness to be afraid and go forward anyway.

P.S. I aim to practice what I preach. My latest scary thing is workshop speaking at conferences. I’m kicking that off with three sessions at the National Worship Leader Conference next week.