Our brains are wired to seek safety. Our fear-tuned brains hate it when we stick our necks out, create something that could be criticized, or take responsibility for something that could fail.

If you need someone to pass the buck to, you will miss the chance to lead something all your own. If you need assurance you won’t fail, you will miss the chance to do innovative work. If you need assurance people will like it, you will miss the chance to create meaningful art.

The biggest price of entry to a bigger future isn’t money or talent, it’s the willingness to feel fear and go forward anyway. Fear, that potent, invisible, indiscriminate force, keeps a lot of us out of the big leagues of our own lives.

Yes, you can miss out on a lot by playing it safe. Or you can go forward in spite of the fear, and in so doing find that you’ve chased it away.