--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Once I was on the job, once I had got…" description: "\"Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.\" — Seamus Heaney" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b1/seamus-heaney-1711_anticipation_once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-sta_116670.png" --- # Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe… ![“Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.” quote by Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b1/seamus-heaney-1711_anticipation_once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-sta_116670.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b1/seamus-heaney-1711_anticipation_once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-sta_116670.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b1/seamus-heaney-1711_anticipation_once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-sta_116670.png) > “Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.” [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When work begins, a sense of safety appears, yet the anticipation of what lies ahead creates nervous tension. **In simple terms:** Starting a task feels safe, but waiting for what follows makes you anxious. Key Takeaway Anticipation breeds tension despite initial confidence. Themes confidence anticipation tension work psychology Mood reflective uneasy Type personal insight workplace observation When to use this quote - starting a new job - preparing for a performance - entering a new relationship Key Concepts cognitive dissonance risk perception Practical Applications - practice mindfulness before tasks - break tasks into smaller steps Questions to Reflect On - How does anticipation affect your performance? - Can you separate safety from future uncertainty? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Jobs](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/jobs/) ## Related quotes > [Being Henry Fonda's daughter got me started. 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I was at day care, and they took us on a field trip to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-biles/i-started-gymnastics-when-i-was-six-years-old-i-was-at-day-care-and/) [Simone Biles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-biles/) > [When we got started with just a little note.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-strait/when-we-got-started-with-just-a-little-note/) [George Strait](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-strait/) > [Create your own myths; that is how the gods got started.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stanislaw-jerzy-lec/create-your-own-myths-that-is-how-the-gods-got-started/) [Stanislaw Jerzy Lec](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stanislaw-jerzy-lec/) > [I got started as an actor when I was 12.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/i-got-started-as-an-actor-when-i-was-12/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [The thing that got me started on Twitter was just basically pressure from management and the record company saying, 'Hey, this is what all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blake-shelton/the-thing-that-got-me-started-on-twitter-was-just-basically-pressure/) [Blake Shelton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blake-shelton/) > [I didn't have a lot of friends. 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Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-d-snyder/) > [Not to this extent but from day one I had an awful lot of confidence when I got started.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-thorogood/not-to-this-extent-but-from-day-one-i-had-an-awful-lot-of-confidence/) [George Thorogood](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-thorogood/) > [Everyone who got where he is started where he was.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-c-maxwell/everyone-who-got-where-he-is-started-where-he-was/) [John C. Maxwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-c-maxwell/) > [If you're going to be a singer, I'd just say, put yourself out there as much as you can. It's pretty easy to, nowadays,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maisie-peters/if-you-re-going-to-be-a-singer-i-d-just-say-put-yourself-out-there-as/) [Maisie Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maisie-peters/) > [What can I say: I got started on the whole wife-and-kids thing at a young age,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-daly/what-can-i-say-i-got-started-on-the-whole-wife-and-kids-thing-at-a/) [Tim Daly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-daly/) > [I got started in 1995, working in a group called The Cash Money Click.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ja-rule/i-got-started-in-1995-working-in-a-group-called-the-cash-money-click/) [Ja Rule](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ja-rule/) ## More by Seamus Heaney > [You had to come back to learn how to lose yourself, to be pilot and stray-witch, Hansel and Gretel in one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-had-to-come-back-to-learn-how-to-lose-yourself-to-be-pilot-and/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [If self is a location, so is love: Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels, and distance, Here and there and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/if-self-is-a-location-so-is-love-bearings-taken-markings-cardinal/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [I'm very conscious that people dear to me are alive in my imagination - poets in particular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-m-very-conscious-that-people-dear-to-me-are-alive-in-my-imagination/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [You can have Irish identity in the north and also have your Irish passport.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/you-can-have-irish-identity-in-the-north-and-also-have-your-irish/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [The external reality and inner dynamic of happenings in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1974 were symptomatic of change, violent change admittedly, but change…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/the-external-reality-and-inner-dynamic-of-happenings-in-northern/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Hope for a great sea-change timid to rebuke and too petty to forgive](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/hope-for-a-great-sea-change-timid-to-rebuke-and-too-petty-to-forgive/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [One of the very first poems I wrote was Docker That fist would drop a hammer on a Catholic and one of the sturdiest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/one-of-the-very-first-poems-i-wrote-was-docker-that-fist-would-drop-a/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Anything Can Happen is also, incidentally, a poem that arose from teaching. I'd talked about the Horace Ode (I, 34) \[on which the poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/anything-can-happen-is-also-incidentally-a-poem-that-arose-from/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Poetry is always slightly mysterious, and you wonder what is your relationship to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/poetry-is-always-slightly-mysterious-and-you-wonder-what-is-your/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Sink every impulse like a bolt. Secure The bastion of sensation. Do not waver Into language. Do not waver in it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/sink-every-impulse-like-a-bolt-secure-the-bastion-of-sensation-do-not/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [Two buckets were easier carried than one. / I grew up in between.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/two-buckets-were-easier-carried-than-one-i-grew-up-in-between/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [I suppose I'm saying that defiance is actually part of the lyric job](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/i-suppose-i-m-saying-that-defiance-is-actually-part-of-the-lyric-job/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [“It is said that once upon a time St. Kevin was kneeling with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/it-is-said-that-once-upon-a-time-st-kevin-was-kneeling-with-his-arms/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [My father and mother had no sense of entitlement for their children.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/my-father-and-mother-had-no-sense-of-entitlement-for-their-children/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) > [“A four foot box, a foot for every year.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/a-four-foot-box-a-foot-for-every-year/) [Seamus Heaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) [Explore all 214 Seamus Heaney quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/) ## More Anticipation quotes > [There is something to be said though when you have 4 or 5 guys playing with no net, there is a sense of urgency,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marco-mendoza/there-is-something-to-be-said-though-when-you-have-4-or-5-guys/) [Marco Mendoza](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marco-mendoza/) > [Long intros are cool because there's a little bit of anticipation, you know?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miranda-lambert/long-intros-are-cool-because-there-s-a-little-bit-of-anticipation-you/) [Miranda Lambert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miranda-lambert/) > [Playing shortstop is 75 to 80 percent anticipation, knowing the hitter and the pitch being thrown.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lou-boudreau/playing-shortstop-is-75-to-80-percent-anticipation-knowing-the-hitter/) [Lou Boudreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lou-boudreau/) > [Marriages are always moving from one season to another. Sometimes we find ourselves in winter--discouraged, detached, and dissatisfied; other times we experience springtime, with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-chapman/marriages-are-always-moving-from-one-season-to-another-sometimes-we/) [Gary Chapman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-chapman/) > [“O I'm so afraid that it's true about to travel hopefully being better than to arrive. It might be all in the quest, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brigid-brophy/o-i-m-so-afraid-that-it-s-true-about-to-travel-hopefully-being-better/) [Brigid Brophy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brigid-brophy/) > [“If you come at four in the afternoon, I'll begin to be happy by three.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/if-you-come-at-four-in-the-afternoon-i-ll-begin-to-be-happy-by-three/) [Antoine de Saint-Exupéry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/antoine-de-saint-exup-ry/) > [Science is not a system of certain, or -established, statements; nor is it a system which steadily advances towards a state of finality... And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karl-popper/science-is-not-a-system-of-certain-or-established-statements-nor-is/) [Karl Popper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karl-popper/) > [\[It is hard to know what is good luck and what isn't and therefore whether we should be happy or sad about it. Only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zelig-pliskin/it-is-hard-to-know-what-is-good-luck-and-what-isn-t-and-therefore/) [Zelig Pliskin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zelig-pliskin/) > [The so called unconscious inferences can be traced back to the all-preserving memory, which presents us with parallel experiences and hence already knows the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-so-called-unconscious-inferences-can-be-traced-back-to-the-all/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [ The only thing is that ordinarily when I do dance with \[women\] they think I am suddenly going to throw them over a table… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kelly/the-only-thing-is-that-ordinarily-when-i-do-dance-with-women-they/) [Gene Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kelly/) > [Many live in dread of what is coming. Why should we? The unknown puts adventure into life. ... The unexpected around the corner gives…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-stanley-jones/many-live-in-dread-of-what-is-coming-why-should-we-the-unknown-puts/) [E. Stanley Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-stanley-jones/) > [The pilot who is always dreading a rock or a tempest must not complain if he remain a poor fisherman. We must at times…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pietro-metastasio/the-pilot-who-is-always-dreading-a-rock-or-a-tempest-must-not/) [Pietro Metastasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pietro-metastasio/) > [I am honoured to be asked to take on this role, especially as it comes at such an integral time for our relationship with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-boateng/i-am-honoured-to-be-asked-to-take-on-this-role-especially-as-it-comes/) Paul Boateng > [“I can handle Evil, but I cannot handle Anticipation.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabbo-de-la-parra/i-can-handle-evil-but-i-cannot-handle-anticipation/) [Gabbo De La Parra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabbo-de-la-parra/) > [Hope is itself a species of happiness...](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/hope-is-itself-a-species-of-happiness/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) Browse all 758 Anticipation quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Seamus Heaney" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-started-i-felt-safe-enough-but/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Anticipation" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-started-i-felt-safe-enough-but/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b1/seamus-heaney-1711_anticipation_once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-sta_116670.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b1/seamus-heaney-1711_anticipation_once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-sta_116670.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b1/seamus-heaney-1711_anticipation_once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-sta_116670.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Once I was on the job, once I had got started, I felt safe enough, but the anticipation made me tense.” — Seamus Heaney", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Seamus Heaney", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/seamus-heaney/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Once I was on the job,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-started-i-felt-safe-enough-but/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/seamus-heaney/once-i-was-on-the-job-once-i-had-got-started-i-felt-safe-enough-but/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```