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

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Being a writer is a lot like living in the Wizard of Oz.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Some days it feels like you've lost your brain.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Most days it feels like you're holding on to your heart, and every day feels like a battle for your courage.
• 0:35
  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.
• 0:41
  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?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: What makes the muskrat guard his musk?
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: What makes the Sphinx the seven wonder?
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: What makes the dawn come up like thunder?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of each line in that song, the group says, courage! And near the end of the song, the cowardly lion says, What have they got that I ain't got?
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the answer, of course, is courage.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: But is it true?
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is it true when we think of courage as it relates to us?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is it true that we don't have courage?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Or is it possible that we've misunderstood the true nature of what courage is?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: One of our great American writers, Mark Twain, is helpful here.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: He said this courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is a key insight for all of us writers.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: It reminds us that it's impossible to get rid of fear because fear will always be with you.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Courage just means that you're taking action and forging ahead, even though you're a little bit afraid.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: We've all watched too many movies, and our idea of courage is doing these crazy stunts and superhuman feats, but the problem is that we're not superheroes, and ordinary life doesn't require us to act like we're in a movie.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: So instead, we have to practice quiet courage.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Quiet courage is the type of courage that ordinary writers practice every day.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: We get out of bed, we face uncertainty, we feel afraid sometimes, but we do our work anyway because that's the only thing within our control.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: We resist fear by taking small daily steps toward our goals.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's called quiet courage because it doesn't get a lot of attention.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: The courageous writers don't make a big fuss and don't draw attention to themselves.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: They show up, they do the work, and they serve people through their writing.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I don't believe that you win your inner creative battles by just having a giant explosion of creativity every once in a while.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that you win it by getting into the trenches every day, by staring your fear square in the face, and by doing the work anyway, despite whatever your emotions are telling you.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: So the next time you hear yourself asking, what have they got that I ain't got?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the answer should be not a darn thing.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: You've had your courage with you the whole time.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: You just needed to use it.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Here's today's challenge.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: What situation in your life or what piece of writing needs you to show up with your courage today?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.