Courage – Forge
Earn Your Pair
Our Manifesto says…
‘Before you even think about earning a 3rd, You’ve gotta get a pair. Being ballsy doesn’t mean you’re not scared; It means you go forward despite the fear. So step out on the ledge, look down in terror, and leap anyway.’
No one said this was going to be easy. In fact, we told you going in it was going to be hard, and at times even terrifying. Cue your courage.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
DEFINE COURAGE.
When most people discuss courage, it’s the front page newsworthy sort – rescuing a child from a burning building or piloting the first rocket to Mars. As a 3rdNutter, you may very well have this type of brazen feat in your future (or your past). However there are also more subtle types of courage: speaking in front of a crowd even though your knees knock together and sweat pours down or asking for a raise from a perpetually frowning boss. Courage is simply acting in the face of fear, no matter what shape that fear takes.
BRACE YOURSELF.
Harkening back to our “be prepared” mantra, it helps to go into your voyage with an eyes-wide-open approach. Acknowledge that you are going to hit up against some of the gnarliest, scariest monsters you have ever imagined (and don’t be surprised if it’s your inner demons that are the most frightening).
FACE THE FEAR.
Fear is like bad breath. We all do our best to avoid it, but inevitably it returns again and again. We don’t care how much of a badass you are, everyone has fears, and they often crop up in the most unexpected places. Maybe you’re trying to start a new business, and it’s asking for a loan from a friend that’s got you tied in knots. Or you want to make a change in your community, but speaking in front of the city council makes your knees quiver. Whatever your fear, it’s learning to overcome it that makes you 3rdNut-worthy.
One way to overcome the fear is simply to ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” Then, literally walk through the thing you need to do in your mind, visualizing everything down to the shine on the buttons of your freshly pressed power suit. Picture things going as badly as they possibly could. For most situations, you’ll find that embarrassment or failure are the worst case scenarios. As a member of this tribe, you’ll agree that those are a small price to pay in order to gain the bigger prize of accomplishing your audacious dreams. Once you’ve reconciled yourself to the idea that, no matter what, it won’t be THAT bad, it will make facing the fear that much easier.
Then, because visualization is powerful, walk through the whole scene again, only this time go down the “what’s the best possible way this could play out” path. Keep this imagery in your mind and set out to do the damn thing.
BE BALLSY.
Yep, we said it. Go into each situation with a bit of chutzpah. You know that you might fail, but you don’t give a flying you-know-what because, win or lose, the point of all this is stepping up to the plate and swinging. And you know that, with this tribe behind your back, you’ve got a leg up on the competition.
ACTIONS TO TAKE THIS WEEK.
- Bust out your journal and write down what most scares you at the moment when it comes to achieving your dream.
- Do the visualization exercise mentioned above.
- In a quick note, jot down the worst and best scenarios would look like, and what happened when you actually went out and faced the fear.
- Pick one area of your life where you can choose to act more courageously and then do it!
- Write about your experience in your journal.