Rebecca Zucker | Next Step Partners | March 11, 2023
I’ve recently been thinking a lot about courage. Dictionary.com defines courage as “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty.” We all know that courage is not the absence of fear, but rather, not letting the fear hold you back from taking action.
Simply put, courage is the willingness to step up and do hard things. That, my friends, is an integral component of leadership – whether you are leading yourself or leading others.
Leadership requires courageous acts every single day, both big and small. Click To Tweet.
Sometimes, it takes courage just to face your email inbox in the morning!
You’re also probably more courageous than you give yourself credit for. It takes courage to do any of the following:
- believe in yourself and raise your hand for the job
- lean into a difficult conversation
- stand up to a bully or bad behavior when you see it
- slow down when the rest of the world is moving fast
- take a break and rest
- let others step up and potentially fail
- take a risk where you might fail
- ask for help
- say no
- disagree or share an unpopular opinion
- trust yourself to wing it once in a while
- go with your gut
- negotiate for what you’re worth
- say “I don’t know”
- admit to making a mistake
- show vulnerability with your team
- make a hard decision in the face of uncertainty
- disengage from a toxic person
- challenge long-held beliefs or assumptions
- try something you haven’t done before
- set a boundary – and keep it
Courage is not for its own sake. A key purpose of building courage is for our own growth and development – and like a muscle, it can be strengthened. Click To Tweet.
If some of the things on the list above still feel too hard to tackle right now, not to worry. Courage is a quality that we can cultivate through practice, reflection, and integration of new learning from our experience…and more practice!
By leaning into what’s difficult, we learn that while the discomfort of doing something hard may not be fun in the short-term, it may also not be as bad as you thought. And what feels uncomfortable today, may not be uncomfortable tomorrow.
