Courage Week

If I had the time right now, I’d call a life timeout.

I’d put my West Coast life on pause, roll up my sleeves, and make my way east?to Washington D.C. as a man?on a mission.

While I’d first appease my guilt gene by visiting my parents and brother who live in the area, my true order of business would direct me to the throws of "Capitol Hill" where many bills grow up to become laws. I’d scurry my way over to Congress, then wait my turn to propose two very distinct asks of my government.?

The first??

I’d ask our elected officials to consider extending the week to 8 days.?

If you’re like me, you simply can’t get everything done in 7. In the old "before 3/11/20" era, I would have suggested a 5-day work week followed by a 3-day weekend. I’ll acknowledge that, thanks to the pandemic, perhaps this is now an issue of the past; a conversation that lands in the category of irrelevance with today’s remote work landscape….granted we all know companies are fiddling with mandates on how to bring us back to the office. More on this conundrum below.?

My second ask of my fellow Americans?

Legally change the start of a new year FROM January to September.

This has nothing to do with if I'm "for" or "against" wearing white pants after Labor Day. It has everything to do with the 60-80 day sabbatical many of us take called “summer break” where ritual is interrupted, tans are made, vacations are taken, and heavy thinking ensues.?

Then, when September hits, we report back to our routines, and “back to school” takes over.?

While I’ll be the first to serve up a mind, body, and spirit New Year’s Resolution the first week of January, I’m also here to serve up that September — not January -- is the?true?start of the year.?

If I did fictitiously go to Congress to fight for those two requests above, I’d also throw in one more:

Turn this first September week of “the new year” into an official week-long national holiday called?Courage Week.?

If you follow any of my content, then you're already aware that my team and I didn’t wait for governmental approval to turn THIS week into, unofficially,?Courage Week. If you’re reading this, and you didn’t know,?welcome to the last day of our inaugural event.?

All week long we have been peppering those digital channels with commentary and content with the hopes of nudging you (yes…YOU) out of your ordinary to consider doing something that extends beyond your status quo.

If you haven’t had a chance for your ears to sponge up the launch of The Courageous Podcast Season 3, the first two episodes are now live featuring Playful Rebellion author Gary Ware and Will To Wild author Shelby Stanger .

Take some time this weekend to run yourself through our “Check Yourself Check List”.

Or, let’s say you’re enjoying your scroll here and you’d prefer to keep this uninterrupted. Then consider taking a step back to ask yourself the following hard question…

Here’s the deal.

Change can be hard. But the hardships that come from not changing will be far harder. If you have an idea that you’re sparring with, and that thought in your mind will simply not go away, perhaps it is festering in your head for a reason.?

If I've learned anything from almost 20 years of "why not me", I can attest that when I followed that little voice in my mind that gave me the courage to leap, experiment, pivot, learn, and just keep going... every single time I did, I wasn’t JUST better off for it — I was also happier.?

That’s the beauty of a hard but purposeful quest. While you don’t realize it when you're in the thick of a daunting endeavor, it's when you actually go after that courageous feat, the journey of figuring it out vs. the actual destination, that brings the joy.?

The world needs more courage.

YOUR?world needs more courage.

Courage IS Regret insurance.

We don’t need Capitol Hill’s approval to ambitiously start today.

Thanks for stopping by for your?Weekly Dose of Courage! Don’t forget to?hit subscribe?above or below to be notified when the next issue comes out.

Ryan Berman is the founder of Courageous; a think-feel-do change consultancy based in Southern California. With 25 years in creative business, Ryan believes your “future is safe with change”. Ryan is a speaker, practitioner and authority on the subject who has been featured in Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Inc and Forbes. Ryan has spoken on the topic all over the country including at Google, Procter & Gamble, Kellogg’s, Kraft Heinz, Logitech, Discover Card and charity: water. Ryan also hosts?The Courageous Podcast?where he talks with leaders from around the globe to uncover what it means to be courageous in today's world. His book,?Return On Courage, shares why companies need to unlock courage while providing practical tips on how organizations can operationalize courage today.?Learn more at?couragebrands.com