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Three Tricky Ways to Cultivate Courage
Fear is the thing that in truth makes actions hard, not the action that we think we are afraid of.
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Key Ideas
Your fears will never completely disappear, and you will never win the battle against them.
When you can finally accept fears and invite them in, it makes courage more accessible.
Fears can propel us to new heights if we choose to respond to them mindfully instead of reacting to them blindly.
Doing this allows us to become bigger than our fears and act thoughtfully despite them.
The first step is not actually taking action, it’s setting the intention to act.
Announce that you are committed to taking action. Own it, and have others hold you accountable and inviting them to lift you in support.
Nature definitely plays a role in determining who has courage. Research in neuroscience shows that some people have a thrill-seeking or “Type T” personality.
But even if some of us have a greater capacity for risk-taking (genetically speaking), it doesn’t mean that they will necessarily display more courage.
Non-biological aspect such as our psychological makeup, values, and beliefs, along with conditioning by early role models, can compel us to act at risk to ourselves in the interest of protecting other people.
Research links our capacity to act courageously (or the opposite) to measurable and controllable personal traits such as self-efficacy, self-esteem, the presence of anxiety, and the openness to experience. All these characteristics can be developed and shaped with practice and help.
Of course, the environment and context in which you are operating will also have a big influence.
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Key Ideas
Our brains are wired to:
However, researchers have found that bravery is a skill, and like all skills it can be learned, strengthened and mastered with repeated practice.
... help people get unstuck when building their bravery: