{"id":83,"date":"2007-03-19T04:00:29","date_gmt":"2007-03-19T09:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/the-danger-of-playing-it-safe\/"},"modified":"2013-09-23T14:59:46","modified_gmt":"2013-09-23T22:59:46","slug":"the-danger-of-playing-it-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/the-danger-of-playing-it-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Danger of Playing it Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>It&#8217;s human nature to avoid risk. We don&#8217;t want to embarrass ourselves. We don&#8217;t want to diminish our credibility. So we stay near the center. We censor our words and disguise our true thoughts to play it safe.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, who are we to tell other people they&#8217;re wrong? How can we really be sure of ourselves?<\/p>\n<p>We can&#8217;t. But we have to risk being wrong if we ever want to really be right. This quote from <a title=\"John Irving\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Irving\">John Irving<\/a> explains why. His example deals with writing, but it applies to any creative endeavor.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If you don&#8217;t feel that you are possibly on the edge of humiliating yourself, of losing control of the whole thing, then probably what you are doing isn&#8217;t very vital. If you don&#8217;t feel like you are writing somewhat over your head, why do it? If you don&#8217;t have some doubt of your authority to tell this story, then you are not trying to tell enough.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thanks to <a title=\"Screw You1\" href=\"http:\/\/irreverentfreelancer.blogspot.com\/2007\/01\/freelance-quote-of-dayjohn-irving.html\" target=\"_blank\">Screw You!<\/a> for the quote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s human nature to avoid risk. We don&#8217;t want to embarrass ourselves. We don&#8217;t want to diminish our credibility. So we stay near the center. We censor our words and disguise our true thoughts.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, who are we to tell other people they&#8217;re wrong? How can we really be sure of ourselves?<\/p>\n<p>We can&#8217;t. But we have to risk being wrong if we ever want to really be right. This quote from John Irving explains why. His example deals with writing, but it applies to any creative endeavor. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/the-danger-of-playing-it-safe\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[9],"tags":[149,2279,4631,2278],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Danger of Playing it Safe - Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It&#039;s human nature to avoid risk. We don&#039;t want to embarrass ourselves. We don&#039;t want to diminish our credibility. So we stay near the center. We censor our words and disguise our true thoughts to play it safe.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/the-danger-of-playing-it-safe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Danger of Playing it Safe - Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It&#039;s human nature to avoid risk. We don&#039;t want to embarrass ourselves. We don&#039;t want to diminish our credibility. So we stay near the center. We censor our words and disguise our true thoughts to play it safe.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/the-danger-of-playing-it-safe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-03-19T09:00:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-09-23T22:59:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/ptb-fb-profpic2-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Falconer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/the-danger-of-playing-it-safe\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/the-danger-of-playing-it-safe\/\",\"name\":\"The Danger of Playing it Safe - Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-03-19T09:00:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-23T22:59:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5\"},\"description\":\"It's human nature to avoid risk. 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