Courage is skill that requires you to work on it to master it. And that means, you need to be OK with being a little uncomfortable. 💪
Working on courage is about confronting uncertainty, facing difficulty, and working out how to let go—all things you learn in your personal AND professional life. It is about opening yourself up a bit to lean into taking a few (small) leaps of faith to get going.
And how does that fit if you have a tendency toward perfectionism that holds you back and keeps you fearful? How can you have the courage to do anything unfamiliar or out of your comfort zone if you are only letting yourself do things perfectly?
The relentless pursuit of perfection can be a courage killer. If you (or anyone!) was actually able to do everything perfectly it could be perceived as creating a sense of achievement and therefore courage in all pursuits. But in most cases, worrying about perfect execution snowballs into anxiety and stress to the point where we can neither achieve new accomplishments nor escape negative self-talk.
Ironically, instead of improving us, perfectionism may actually drive us away from our most perfect selves. By courageously setting goals and achieving them, we can regain our self-confidence. Yes! We should aim to get our best results but not according to some kind of perfect scale set in our brains by what we believe others think of us.
Two courage-builder-workouts:
So, let’s start small, with some foundational mental exercises.
1. Be intentional with your self-talk and get a handle on your head trash!
Are your thoughts critical or compassionate? Do they interfere or inspire?
Stop the pattern of continuously being your worst critic; turn your brain into a powerful coach urging you to be courageous.
2. Gain confidence by changing up your repetitive thoughts and taking action!
If you didn’t exercise courage yesterday, you most likely won’t today either. Did you know that what dominates your thoughts today is 95% the same as yesterday? To build courage, interrupt your patterns and do something different. New experiences wake us up!
Embrace challenges you might have avoided yesterday due to staying in your comfort zone or being on auto-pilot. Trying new things doesn’t mean you’ll succeed every time, but it gives the brain new patterns to rely upon the next time you need to act with courage.
We aren’t naturally born with courage; it is something to cultivate! Without it, we fall short of our goals, don’t pursue our passions, and miss making an impact! Courage inspires us to be the best version of ourselves.
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