Many painters are afraid of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the painter who dares and who has broken the spell of “you can’t” once and for all.

—VINCENT VAN GOGH

To dare in life is to make yourself vulnerable to the possibility of
failure. Most of us don’t welcome failure. So instead we avoid
taking risks. We compromise, taking cold comfort in the
assumption that we’ve removed the possibility of failure as we
buckle up in the passenger seat and let life take the wheel.

The truth is, there’s no avoiding failure. While failure may never
feel good, failure in a life of compromise can be twice as
devastating. Let’s say you didn’t take that exciting job overseas
because it was easier to stay where you were. Then, out of nowhere,
you lose your comfortable job. Now you have to contend with the
loss of two jobs—one of which could have been a transformational
experience. You’ll never know, but chances are you’ll never stop
wondering what might have been.

Don’t let fear dilute your life.

There never has been, nor will there ever be, another like you.
Your singular perspective may patch some small hole in the vast
tattered fabric of humanity. Uniqueness alone, however, does not
make you valuable. If you don’t do , if you don’t dare , then you rob
the world—and yourself—of the chance to contribute something
meaningful. As the French film director Robert Bresson once said,
“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been
seen.”
21 If you don’t try something, it will assuredly never exist. Not
your version, anyway. True, not all endeavors will be successful, but
even our so-called failures can be valuable teachers

We must take it upon ourselves to grow. We grow by learning,
and we learn by daring to take action. There will always be risk,
because we can’t control the outcome. This is the way of life, and it’s
unavoidable. What is avoidable, however, is being perpetually
haunted by all the things that could have been if you had only dared.
Begin by giving yourself permission to believe you’re worth the risk.

Sometimes the hardest part of getting started is knowing where to
begin. Maybe you just don’t know how to start tackling your goals,
your projects, your tasks, or even getting organized. Maybe you’re
afraid that you’ll get it wrong or that you’ll disappoint yourself. If
that’s the case, an easy place to begin is to get into the habit of
simply capturing your thoughts on paper.

Thoughts are the source of our goals, hopes, dreams, and
ultimately our actions. An easy place to start with any endeavor is
simply taking your thoughts out of your head and organizing them
on paper. In so doing, you’ve already crossed the starting line to
realize that it’s just another moment. The only difference is that
now you’re behind the steering wheel.