The third decision for success is courage.
Courage is the ability to confront fear, danger, pain, uncertainty, or intimidation. Courage is acting in spite of fear.
When was the last time you were courageous?
Do you have a fear of attending a new school, quitting your job, public speaking, challenging the status quo, or networking with others? These are common fears that don’t go away on their own; you must overcome them. The majority of people avoid these insecurities but those who confront them, realize it’s not as bad as they had thought. It actually never is, however, if we let fear control us, we create excuses and become complacent. On a daily basis we make choices to either become better versions of ourselves through self-evaluation and improvement or make excuses to justify our shortcomings; we must choose.
Choose to lead. Do you have the courage to see yourself as you really are? By being honest with yourself, you will discover your weaknesses and from there, have the ability to improve. Profit from your mistakes by learning from the experience. Spend more time analyzing and improving upon your limitations, less time building excuses to cover them. We create false realities, find distractions, and busy our lives with anything and everything to take up time. Be courageous, become a person of action, and have the courage to lead.
We’ve heard the popular quote, “Pain is only weakness leaving the body.” Leaders are only leaders because they work through the pain and become better versions of themselves. Too often we settle for less by creating excuses and allowing fear to paralyze our growth. Coping with our inequities and the fear to change can seem to be the easier and faster solution; but in reality, we prolong a stagnant status quo.
Having the courage to lead is the third of seven decisions for personal success we learn about while reading the Traveler’s Gift written by Andy Andrews. I pulled this benediction from the book and believe we can learn something from it:
“I am a person of action. I have the ability to encourage and inspire others to greatness. Leading is doing. To lead, I must move forward. Many people move out-of-the-way for a person on the run; others are caught up in his wake. My activity will create a wave of success for the people who follow. My activity will be consistent. This will instill confidence in my leadership. I have the ability to encourage and inspire others to greatness. I am a person of action. I am daring. I am courageous. Failure exists only for the person that quits, I do not quit.”
I would love to hear what you think… Last time you made the decision, did you create an excuse or did you have the courage to see yourself as you really are?
CRUX: Spend more time analyzing and improving upon your limitations, less time building excuses to cover them. Be courageous, become a person of action, and have the courage to lead.
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.” -Albert Einstein




