who can sit with uncertainty,
who can spend months or years in the minefield
that is working on something while knowing
that there is a real possibility no one will care about it—
they often possess another quality.
They do what they do,
They do what they do,
not as a means to some end
(money, fame, awards, etc.),
but for the sake of doing it.
"Rarer than talent or work ethic,"
"Rarer than talent or work ethic,"
the poet John Keats wrote,
is the ability to step into and push through doubts and uncertainties.
In 1817, Keats wrote a letter to his brothers
to share this exciting realization.
“At once it struck me,” Keats wrote,
“At once it struck me,” Keats wrote,
“what quality went to form a Man of Achievement…
Negative Capability.”
Keats explains that “Negative Capability” is
Keats explains that “Negative Capability” is
“when a man is capable of being in uncertainties,
mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.”