We need more strategies for cultivating courage!

In times of uncertainty, when many of us feel anxious, insecure and powerless – courage and trust in ourselves can bridge the gap between fearful and fearless living. But how do you access the courage and trust to take life into your own hands, when so much appears out of your control?

The solution: we need more strategies for cultivating courage, given the difficulty of the place we find ourselves in. Now’s the time to forget fear and get acquainted with courage.

Four tips to help you face fear and find courage

1.           Get it out your head and onto paper

You need to be honest with yourself about what exactly your fears are. Acknowledge them and you can move forward. Acting courageously is difficult if you don’t understand where your anxieties and limitations come from.

2.           Let the coming storm wash over you

You’re not alone if you’re the type to duck for cover when you see the storm rolling in. Granted, some (maybe crazy) folks thrive off this and go skinny dipping while the rest of us dare not even look out the window. I used to wonder how they did it; but now I know. Once you do it once, you can do it over and over again. So, while we feel safe hiding, we’re not going to get anywhere if we do. After working out what your fears are, take the time to assess the real dangers. You may find that, in fact, there’s no real danger. So, be a little nosey. Get to know the territory that scares you.

3.           Visualise the end goal

What you think about is what you bring about. Our thoughts are truly powerful and it’s essentially what guides us. Focus on what you want as opposed to what you don’t want. Sometimes this is like eating soup with a fork. The trick is to manipulate your thoughts and visualise where you could be in a few months or a few years or even just the day – and let those new thoughts guide you to your end goal. It starts and ends with you.

4.           Practise flexibility

It’s not always going to be roses and rainbows. When tapping into the challenge of change, you’re going to find yourself having to be a lot more flexible around your plans. You’ve got to make some room for manoeuvre. To get this right, plan how you’re going to react to different obstacles and practise managing your mindset. Through this you’ll find the courage to change. We can’t predict what’s going to happen, but we can anticipate (to an extent) and come up with solutions.

With that I’ve been thinking…

Lockdown has seen some serious shifts in my sleeping pattern. There’ve been many 3am wake-up sessions. To get back to sleep, my go-to has been what pops up on my YouTube feed, followed by some thinking and writing.

We’re in a time of forced stillness and confinement. I’ve had plenty time to think and create. In the words of Winston Churchill: “Never let a crisis go to waste.” This morning I woke up and had some thoughts about where we find ourselves: the uncertainty and fear it has brought to our lives.

Our “humanness”, our humanity, what makes us human... is our emotions. I’ve been attempting to prioritise logic while shutting out emotions. But this just leads to a state of feeling numb and disconnected.

I’ve been reading more and more about how AI is getting more emotional. Where does this leave us? Culturally and historically, the importance of emotions has often been overlooked, at least since we industrialised a few centuries ago. Humans have been focused on logic, reason, and thinking.

Today, technology has been enshrined and even deified - and data is indeed the new oil. Yet most technology will soon become an abundant commodity and humanness will be a sought-after scarcity.

Human-only traits and characteristics

Intuition, imagination, empathy, compassion and emotional intelligence: non-computable attributes that actually make us human are the skillsets of the future.

Thinking, reasoning, decision-making, leadership, and relationships are often unemotional activities - humans are now realising what emotions can bring to these processes.

The future is something we create every day, by action or by inaction... so make yours a courageous one.

If you need a push in the right direction, or just need some advice then let’s get in touch. I’m offering a FREE 30-minute call where we can discuss a way forward for your business. Follow the below link to book your slot: