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What Have They Got That I Ain't Got? · The Daily Writer

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Writer, where we share a lesson each day to help you cultivate the habits for creative success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: These lessons are inspired by great artists, authors, and thinkers, both past and present.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: For more, you can visit us at dailywriterlife.com.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Being a writer is a lot like living in the Wizard of Oz.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some days feel like you've lost your brain, most days feel like you're holding on to your heart, and every day feels like a battle for your courage.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's how the cowardly lion felt just before he and the rest of the gang went in to see the wizard in Emerald City.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: In one of the best musical moments of the whole movie, he says, What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: What makes the muskrat guard his musk?
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: What makes the Sphinx the seventh wonder?
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: What makes the dawn come up like thunder?
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of each line, the group says, courage.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Near the end of the song, the cowardly lion says, What have they got that I ain't got?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer, of course, is courage.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: But is it true?
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Is it true that you don't have courage?
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it possible that we've misunderstood the true nature of courage?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: One of our great American writers, Mark Twain, is helpful here.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is a key insight.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: It reminds us that it's impossible to get rid of fear.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Fear will always be with you.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Courage just means that you're taking action and forging ahead even though you're afraid.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: We've all watched too many movies, and our idea of courage is doing superhuman feats and crazy stunts.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem is that we're not superheroes, and ordinary life doesn't require us to act like we're in some superhero movie.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Instead, we must practice quiet courage.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Quiet courage is the kind of courage that ordinary writers practice every day.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: They get out of bed, they face a bit of uncertainty, they feel afraid sometimes, but they do their work anyway because that's the only thing within their control.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: They resist fear by taking small daily steps toward their goals.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's called quiet courage because it doesn't get a lot of attention.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: The courageous writers don't make a fuss and they don't draw attention to themselves.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: They show up, they do the work, and they serve people with their writing.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: You don't win your inner creative battle with a giant explosion every once in a while.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: You win it by getting into the trench every day, staring your fear square in the face, and doing the work anyway.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: So the next time you hear yourself asking, what have they got that I ain't got?
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: the answer is not a darned thing.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: You've had your courage with you the whole time.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: You just need to use it.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to the Daily Rider Podcast.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate your support and hope you enjoyed this episode.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: You can find more at dailywriterlife.com.