Fearless vs. Foolish

Written by on Dec 2 2011

Beverly Nelson wrote a blog post about being Fearless vs Foolish, and her article got me thinking:

What is the difference between being fearless & foolish?

I wanted to dig further into what the meanings were behind these two words.

They are both adjectives and are often subjective states of being as seen through the eye of the beholder.

  • “Allan was foolish because he left his job.”
  • “Allan was fearless because he left his job.”

Is the difference between the two words really only subjective because of the outcome?

In 2004, when I left my job, I felt like I made a fearless choice. If I would have failed to pay my bills and had not gained clients, would the perception of my actions have changed in the eyes of other people? YES! I would have felt and been looked at as foolish for leaving my job, foolish for leaving a steady paycheck, foolish for losing my insurance and foolish for putting my “future” at risk.

If your foolish venture turns out successful, you will be perceived as fearless. Success negates foolishness which turns a foolish action into a fearless one.

  • Being foolish means being ignorant of outside factors that could affect an action’s success, causing it to fail.
  • Being fearless only means being conscious of these outside factors, ignoring them and being successful in a given action.

We’re all foolish; ignoring the advice of others, charging towards what we believe is right. We’re all fearless; ignoring the advice of others, charging towards what we believe is right.

Meet
Allan

Hi I'm Allan,

I wrote the article you're reading... I'm one of the co-founders of LessEverything. I love my family more than breathing and I love creating videos about our family adventures.

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