At what point are we taught how to develop our courage?
The answer in short is; we’re not taught this. Well at least not directly.
The principle is there and already deeply embedded in our culture according to a recent article written and published in Influencive. Think of a hero in a story (true or fictional) and the common denominator that launches their story is courage. The courage to overcome fear and to master what the initial fear was.
Fear
The reality for most of us is that we learn how to develop courage through a mixture of doing something that frightens us (fear) and our ability to develop strength as a result of this.
Fear exists inside all of us and in some cases we pass this onto to the next generation. Fear creates anxiety and in turn can lead us in to fight, flight or freeze mode.
Kim Ingleby shared her experience and insight on a previous episode of the Perfect Imbalance Podcast.
Kim works with people to empower them to overcome their fears and have the courage to achieve their goals, whatever they may be by giving them the confidence and the tools to make them happen.
Kim loves to learn and puts herself in challenging situations, both physically and mentally. This helps her in terms of her own courage and also gives her an ‘edge’ with the clients she works with, because in most cases she’s been there.
There are times when Kim doesn’t feel confident, and she talks about her recent illness – encephalitis and the impact that this has had on her life. However;
“It’s the courage that gives you confidence”
You can find out more about Kim by watching her tedx talk about her journey and learning with encephalitis.
How to develop courage
- Be clear on your motivation before you begin (is it toward achieving something or moving away from something). This is important to understand whether it’s something you want to do or need to do.
- Ask yourself what you know (and believe to be true) about this challenge and write it down.
- Accept what you believe to be achievable and then capture what you’re unsure about.
- Take the elements that you’re unsure about and come up with a plan to negate or work around these.
- Develop some ‘if, then’ strategies – see Greg Whtye’s book for more details on this. Essentially you’re coming up with; if this happens, then you’ll do this.
- Then go and do it.
- Repeat again and again and you’ll begin to realise that you have more courage as a result.
I’d love to hear how you’ve overcome some of your own challenges in life and if you’ve found this helpful, please leave a comment or sign up to receive the latest information from Ignite in your inbox.
Check out other blog posts and podcast episodes here.
A final quote to leave you with from Kim;
The phrase anything is possible; isn’t possible for some, but if you look a little bit to one side, something will be possible
Many thanks
Jeff
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Featured image by Matthew Henry