This week's idea
From a speech by Benjamin Disraeli:
"Life is too short to be little. Man is never so manly as when he feels deeply, acts boldly, and expresses himself with frankness and with fervour."
Most people spend their lives making themselves smaller to fit in. The cost of that is higher than they realise.
Useful takeaways
Clarity without action is just comfortable self-awareness. Knowing what's wrong doesn't fix it - owning it does.
Hiding takes more energy than the thing you're hiding. The performance eventually costs more than the vulnerability.
Small wins don't mean you've stopped being small. You can achieve a lot while still playing defence with who you are.
Where people get this wrong
Most people read "life is too short to be little" and think it means "be ambitious", "dream big", or if you're an Aussie, "have a crack". So they chase big titles, big goals and big, "once in a lifetime" achievements.
That's not the lesson.
It's actually about refusing to diminish yourself to make others comfortable. There's a difference between achieving success while hiding who you are and expressing yourself with frankness and "fervour" (what a great word).
How I've applied it
I stopped treating parts of myself like liabilities that need managing. When I feel the urge to shrink, apologise, or perform, I pause and ask myself, "Am I being small right now?" Most of the time, the answer is yes. And I course-correct.
Storytime
When I was 15, I got diagnosed with dyslexia.
I wasn't surprised. It took me longer to complete simple tasks. I hated reading because I couldn't do it. I'd been in the bottom set for most things.
But my psychologist gave me advice that stuck:
"Own it, or let it own you."
From that day on, I thought my life had changed. I became fearless because I'd identified the enemy. To beat it was to outwork it. Late nights, weekends, pushing forward mindlessly.
Small wins came. They compounded. I got two degrees. Worked at top-tier agencies on global brands. Moved to paradise. And eventually, achieved the version of "success" I'd set out for myself at 15.
But something was missing.
I felt like I wasn't being 100% myself. I was performing.
It took years of reflection to realise I hadn't actually owned it. I'd never told anyone I was dyslexic. I'd pushed it down so far that I convinced myself it didn't matter.
Then I became GM of a top agency at 30, and I realised what got me here wouldn't get me where I wanted to go.
So I made a bold move. I wrote about it publicly in an article called "Where Are All the Dyslexic Thinkers?"
The response was immediate. Dozens of DMs. Support from people I'd never met. And suddenly, 15 years after being told to own it, I actually did.
I levelled up because I stopped "being small" about who I was.
I was told to own it at 15. It took me 15 years to actually do it. That's 15 years of being little when I could have been frank and fervent. I'm proud of what I achieved in that time - but now I'm pumped because the brakes are off.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
Murph