The Icarus Deception
How High Will You Fly?
Seth Godin is one of the world's most inspiring and prolific creators. He's also one of its most popular bloggers. This book is all about challenging what Seth calls "The Icarus Deception" and reclaiming our power to fly. The primary theme? We’re way too worried about exhibiting any level of hubris and trying to fly too high when we should be more concerned about flying too LOW. (Obviously, without being “recklessly stupid” about it but…) Big Ideas we explore include: how to catch a fox (and human!), the highs and lows of the Icarus Deception, "the itch" (how's yours?), and how to deal with resistance (aka "the most important line in the book"!).
Big Ideas
- We need your optimus bestWe need it!
- How to catch a fox (and a human)And a human.
- The Icarus deceptionThe highs and lows.
- The Itch (How’s yours?)How’s yours?
- “Hi, Resistance! Good to see you.”“Great to see you.” :)
“How Long Are You Going to Wait?
They told you to get your résumé in order, to punch your ticket, to fit in, and to follow instructions.
They told you to swallow your pride, not to follow your dream.
They promised you trinkets and prizes, and possibly riches if you would just suck it up and be part of the system, if you would merely do what you were told and conform.
They sold you debt and self-storage and reality TV shows. They sold your daughters and sons, too.
All in exchange for what would happen later, when it was your turn.
It’s your turn.”
~ Seth Godin from The Icarus Deception
We’ve talked about him in a bunch of Notes and in Creativity 101. He’s one of the most inspiring and prolific creators out there and has one of the most popular blogs in the world.
In fact, his practice of creating a new post every day is one of my inspirations for our +1 series. And, his concept of relentlessly “shipping” is one of my creative mantras and is an absolutely essential, fundamental aspect of my productivity.
This book is all about reclaiming our power to fly.
The book cover has a birdcage with an open little door on it that metaphorically represents the central theme of the book: We may FEEL like we’re trapped inside a tiny little cage BUT (and this is a very big “but” Seth emphasizes throughout the book!), the door to the cage is wide open. We just need to cruise on out.
Which leads us to the question on the cover of the book: “how high will you fly?”
… Well, how high will you fly? And… Is NOW a good time to get that flying on?
If you’d like some inspiration to find out how to spread your wings and get about your business of flying high, I think you’ll love the book. (Get it here.)
It’s written in a lyrically rhythmic style with short bursts of fill-up-your-soul wisdom. I could LITERALLY (hah!) pick up the book and choose an Idea from pretty much any page of the book to create this Note.
I’m excited to share a few of my favorite Ideas we can apply to our flying (!) TODAY (!!!) so let’s jump straight in!
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“Your ability to follow directions is not the secret to your success.
You are hiding your best work, your best insight, and your best self from us every day.
We know how much you care, and it’s a shame that the system works overtime to push you away from the people and the projects you care about.
The world does not owe you a living, but just when you needed it, a door was opened for you to make a difference.
It’s too bad that so much time has been wasted, but it would be unforgivable to wait any longer. You have the ability to contribute so much. We need you, now.”
That intro quote up there? Those are the first words of the book. Then this passage comes next. If you could look inside my book, you’d see that I circled and underlined all the “best”s here: “You are hiding your best work, your best insight, and your best self from us every day.”
Of course, every time I read “best” I think of Optimize. (Well, technically, I pretty much ALWAYS think of Optimize.) (Laughing.)
More specifically, I think of the Latin root of the word Optimize: optimus—which, as we know, means “the best.”
So, let’s go back through that sentence and remind ourselves WHY we Optimize together. It’s quite simple: To become and give our best to the world:
—> “You are hiding your best work, your best insight, and your best self from us every day.”
Note: That’s not a question. As in “ARE YOU hiding your best from us every day?”
It’s a declarative statement. As in “YOU ARE hiding your best from us every day.”
Which kind of begs a few questions:
What would the best version of you look like?
What’s getting in the way?
Is now a good time to get to work being your best?
Note: On question #1, Ellen Langer, our friendly Harvard professor of the “psychology of possibility,” tells us that your best is simply UNKNOWABLE.
The problem is, we put constraints on ourselves way too easily. Which brings us back to that birdcage with an open door. It’s time to fly out and up!
P.S. This is worth repeating as well: “It’s too bad that so much time has been wasted, but it would be unforgivable to wait any longer. You have the ability to contribute so much. We need you, now.”
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
How to catch a fox (and a human)
“Build an eight-foot-long wooden fence in the forest.
Lay out some bait and then go away for a week.
The fox is too crafty to be caught in a simple trap, and he will smell you and avoid the fence for days. But eventually, he’ll come and eat the bait.
At the end of the week, build a second length of fence at a right angle to the first. Leave more bait.
The fox will avoid the fence again for a few days, then take the bait.
At the end of the second week, build a third wall and a gate. Leave more bait.
When you come back at the end of the month, the fox will be happily prancing in his safe enclosure, and all you will have to do is close the gate. The fox will be trapped.
This, of course, is what happened to us. The industrial age built the trap we’re mired in, but it didn’t build the trap all at once; that took centuries to perfect. And we were seduced. Seduced by the bait of decent pay and plenty of prizes. Seduced by the apparent security of the enclosure. And once the gate was shut, we were kept in by the threat of shame, the amplification of risk, and society’s reliance on more and shinier prizes.”
Want to catch a fox? There ya go. Wonder how we all got fenced in? There ya go.
As I read that passage, I thought of Yuval Noah Harari’s wisdom from Sapiens. He’d agree that we’ve been fenced in via a series of “imagined realities.” Although, he’d probably say that fencing started with the AGRICULTURAL Age not the Industrial Age.
We’ll save that chat for another time. For now, let’s reflect on this wisdom for a moment: “This is the best reason to learn history: not in order to predict the future, but to free yourself of the past and imagine alternative destinies. Of course this is not total freedom — we cannot avoid being shaped by the past. But some freedom is better than none.”
Having said that, get this: Seth’s whole point is that we’re actually NOT fenced in any longer. He says: “The fence is dismantled. It’s gone. But most of us have no idea that we’re no longer fenced in. We’ve been so thoroughly brainwashed and intimidated and socialized that we stay huddled together, waiting for instructions, when we have the first, best, once-in-a-lifetime chance to do something extraordinary instead.”
Which reminds me of Joseph Campbell who tells us about “A bit of advice given to a young Native American at the time of his initiation: ‘As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump. It’s not as wide as you think.’”
Yep. See that gate on the birdcage? Push it. It’s open.
P.S. I’m also reminded of Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was saying similar things in the late 1800’s. In fact, Seth and his Domino Project actually published the version of Emerson’s epic essay Self-Reliance that we used for the Note. In Emerson’s day, the Industrial walls were just being built.
Even at that stage, he was already preaching: “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried. …
We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents. … God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace.”
Plus: “And truly it demands something godlike in him who has cast off the common motives of humanity, and has ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster.” Why? “For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure.”Which leads us to the fact that it’s time to fly: “We shun the rugged battle of fate, where strength is born.”
P.P.S: As I reread my own Notes on Self-Reliance for the I-don’t-know-how-manyth-time, two things came to mind: 1) If you haven’t read those Notes/the essay yet, please do—it’s life-changing; and, 2) Seth is, in many ways, a modern Emerson.
P.P.P.S. We haven’t even exited the Introduction of the book yet. That was from page “x.” Like I said, every passage is worthy of reflection. We shall now move on to the first chapter. :)
A Few Worldview Questions to Consider: How do I get more? vs. How do I give more? How do I guarantee success? vs. How do I risk failure? Where is the map? vs. Where is the wilderness? Do I have enough money? vs. Have I made enough art?
Don’t think! Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.
The Icarus deception
“Just south of the Greek island of Samos lies the Icarian Sea. Legend has it that this is where Icarus died—a victim of his hubris.
His father, Daedalus, was a master craftsman. Banished to prison for sabotaging the work of King Minos (captor of the Minotaur), Daedalus created a brilliant escape plot, described in the myth that we were told as children.
He fashioned a set of wings for himself and for his son. After affixing the wings with wax, they set out to escape. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun. Entranced by his magical ability to fly, Icarus disobeyed and flew too high. We all know what happened next: The wax melted, and Icarus, the beloved son, lost his wings, tumbled into the sea, and died.
The lesson of this myth: Don’t disobey the king. Don’t disobey your dad. Don’t imagine that you’re better than you are, and most of all, don’t ever believe that you have the ability to do what a god might do.
The part of the myth you weren’t told: In addition to telling Icarus not to fly too high, Daedalus instructed his son not to fly too low, too close to the sea, because the water would ruin the lift in his wings.
Society has altered the myth, encouraging us to forget the part about the sea, and create a culture where we constantly remind one another about the dangers of standing up, standing out, and making a ruckus. Industrialists have made hubris a cardinal sin but conveniently ignored a far more common failing: settling for too little.”
Welcome to Chapter 1.
The Icarus Deception? In short: It’s the belief that the greatest risk is trying to fly too HIGH when, in fact, in our modern world, it’s the opposite. Most of us fly way too LOW.
As Seth so beautifully says: “The path that is available to each of us is neither reckless stupidity or mindless compliance. No, the path that’s available to us is to be human, to do art, and to fly far higher than we’ve been taught is possible. We’ve built a world where it’s possible to fly higher than ever, and the tragedy is that we’ve been seduced into believing that we ought to fly ever lower instead.”
So, to be clear, we’re not saying we should fly straight at the sun. We’re not going for “reckless stupidity.” That, of course, would be akin to Aristotle’s vice of excess. We just want to make sure we pay attention to the OTHER half of Daedalus’s advice (“Don’t fly too low, son!”) lest we fall on the *other* side of Aristotle’s spectrum and fly too low over the waters of the vice of deficiency.
The target? Let’s see how high we can fly without burning ourselves and/or our wings up. :)
A couple things come to mind. First, Nietzsche on our culture’s obsession with destroying any hint of hubris (and, with it, any hope of flying high): “The higher you ascend, the smaller you appear to the eye of envy. But most of all they hate those who fly.”
Then we have some wisdom on “buoyancy” from Dan Pink’s To Sell Is Human. Buoyancy is one of his new “ABCs” of selling. (The other two? Attunement and Clarity.) He tells us: “[Barbara] Fredrickson sees the healthy positivity ratios … as a calibration between two competing pulls: levity and gravity. ‘Levity is that unseen force that lifts you skyward, whereas gravity is the opposing force that pulls you earthward. Unchecked levity leaves you flighty, ungrounded, and unreal. Unchecked gravity leaves you collapsed in a heap of misery,’ she writes. ‘Yet when properly combined, these two opposing forces leave you buoyant.’”
Here’s to our antifragile, buoyant flying!
The question isn’t whether you are capable of godlike work. (You are.) The question is: Are you willing?
Like a growth spurt for a teenager, the pain of facing the void where art lives is part of the deal, our stretching into a better self.
The Itch (How’s yours?)
“We evolved to desire safety. We seek out security. We want a hiding place, a dependable future, something we can count on.
And yet.
And yet the itch comes back. The itch to provoke or risk or stand up. The itch to test, to prod, and to stand out.
For some the itch is nothing but a slight buzz, something causing discomfort in an otherwise bland day. For others the itch becomes so overwhelming that it overtakes them, dominating their day and putting their souls on the line.
The itch has always been there, of course. It’s been there for generations, provoking Copernicus and Biko, King and Gandhi. It is responsible for our inventions and our discoveries and our epic failures. The itch led us to war and to electricity, to Ionesco and to Zander.”
The itch. How’s yours?
Maslow called “the itch” our need to self-actualize.
I call it “soul oxygen.” We get to a place where our more basic needs are taken care of and there’s a yearning for more. Not for more stuff. But for more meaning and life force and self-expression.
That need, as we often discuss, isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s as real as our need to breathe.
Hence, soul oxygen.
One other very important thing to know about the itch. It’s responsible for both “our inventions and our discoveries” AND for “our epic failures.”
Which reminds me of Joseph Campbell. He reminds us that there is no safety on the call to adventure and that, while answering our call to adventure can lead to bliss, there’s also (always!) the chance for a fiasco. (Laughing.)
This willingness to embrace failure is a CONSTANT theme throughout this book. Go for it. It might work. AND… It might not work. Seth tells us that the confidence to go for it while saying “This might not work” is actually the most powerful thing we can do.
In fact, he tells us that in the Industrial Age, our “comfort zones” and our “safety zones” were pretty much perfectly overlapped.
But… In the new “Connection Age” (as he describes it), our safety zone has shifted. These days, if we want to be “safe” we need to be willing to feel uncomfortable. These days, our safety lies in our willingness to live in our discomfort zone.
Which leads us to the next Big Idea…
If you become someone who is uncomfortable unless she is creating change, restless if things are standing still, and disappointed if you haven’t failed recently, you’ve figured out how to become comfortable with the behaviors most likely to make you safe going forward.
“Hi, Resistance! Good to see you.”
“Pressfield’s essential book about the resistance is called The War of Art. And the title is something that he and I disagree about.
The resistance cannot be productively fought to the death. There can be no war on the resistance because you cannot win it, and starting a war you can’t win is foolish.
Once I realized the cold sweat, the palpitations, the wily stalling, the insecurity, and the fear were part of making art, I was able to relax into my work. It’s not even a cease-fire any longer. It’s a partnership, not a war.
When the resistance shows up, I know that I’m winning. Not my fight against it, but my fight to make art. …
The resistance is a symptom that you’re on the right track. The resistance is not something to be avoided; it’s something to seek out.
That’s the single most important sentence in this book.
The artist seeks out the feeling of the resistance and then tries to maximize it.
The cog, the day laborer, the compliant student—they seek to eliminate the feeling instead.
That’s the choice.
Change your mind, right now. Not later.”
That’s from a section called “Shame, Vulnerability, and Being Naked” in which Seth talks about the importance of EMBRACING the “cold sweat, the palpitations, the wily stalling, the insecurity, and the fear.” (<- Always refreshing to know we’re not alone, eh? :)
As Phil Stutz would say, those aren’t signs that something is WRONG. They’re Reverse Indicators. They’re signs that something is RIGHT. Specifically, in this context, when the resistance shows up, it’s a sign we’re trying to fly a little higher—moving beyond our comfort zones as we strive to give our best to the world.
With that in mind, we arrive at “the single most importance sentence in this book”:“The resistance is not something to be avoided; it’s something to seek out.”
As Grant Cardone says in The 10X Rule: “Rather than seeing fear as a sign to run—as most other people do—it must become an indicator to go.”
In other words, when resistance shows up, remember to say, “I’m excited!!” And, “Bring it on!!!”
All of which brings us to the single most important question in this Note: Have you high-fived your resistance lately? :)
Here’s to flying high and chasing the Optimus-best version of ourselves, my friend!
The challenge of our time is to find a journey worthy of your heart and your soul.
We built this world for you. Not so you would watch more online videos, keep up on your feeds, and LOL with your high school friends. We built it so you could do what you’re capable of. Without apology and without excuse. Go.
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