How To Cultivate Courage

The truth about life is that the things men fear and refuse to confront boldly are the things that kill them at the end of the day.

Courage means you have the ability and the willingness to confront your fears.

Courageous people are not people who are not afraid; they are simply people who have mastered their fears. Ernest Hemingway once said that “courage is grace under pressure.” Courage isn’t having the strength to go on — it is going on when you don’t have strength.

Being courageous is one of the strongest virtues of successful people. The fearful never try anything and as a result never succeed in life.

One of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself is to cultivate courage and ensure that you act courageously all through the year. Courage is the first of human virtues because it makes all others possible.

[Tweet “To bring down the giants, you need courage to stand against them.”]

When we talk about courage and acting courageously, a story comes to my mind. It is the story of Joshua and Caleb in the ancient Jewish history. The story was told that they had been promised a land the flows with milk and honey. Some of the Jewish men were sent out to spy out the land. 10 out of 12 of the spies came back with fear and negative reports concerning the giants found in the land. On the other hand, Joshua and Caleb countered their report and fear with a positive report and courage. At the end of the day, those 10 spies did not inherit the land. On at least three different occasions, it was read that God told Joshua to be strong and of good courage and the giants will fall for him and the land will be taken over by him.

The lessons from this story:

• The giants are real but you cannot bring them down until you confront them, for you cannot conquer what you cannot confront. Joshua and Caleb saw the giants but they refused to see defeat. They saw the potential to win and they concentrated on that. Nelson Mandela who I consider of the most courageous men in recent century once said “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” In order words, without fear, there is no courage.
• Lack of courage can deny you the privilege of a lifetime blessing. At the end of the day, only those who had courage to confront the giants in both stories were able to achieve and enjoy the blessing while those who were afraid lost out completely. While Joshua and Caleb inherited the Promised Land, David became the son in-law to the king with lots of gifts following. Lack of courage steals away your rewards from you.
• You can never know how powerful you are and how weak your enemy, the giant is until you confront the giant in courage. Everyone had assumed they were helpless as far as the situations were concerned. You can never know what you are capable of doing until you try.

There is an African proverb which says “the eye is a fearful person.” What that simply means is that most people base their judgement of what challenges by sight. If you keep walking by sight will never try anything.

Apply for that job; apply for that scholarship; propose to her; accept his proposal; start that business; try that investment; start that book project; start that music album — you can never tell if it will work out until you summon the courage to try.

And if it does not work, try again and keep trying until it works. At the end of the day, you will be far better off than the person who never tried. Helen Keller said “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” The trust is that if you are never afraid of trying, then you are not living close to your potential but away from it.

So what matters is your ability to confront those fears when you step forward to challenge your potentials. It is a different thing to perpetually live in fear and another to have fear and then confront it courageously.

So to cultivate courage and courageous acts:

• Believe God when He tells you to take a step: When God told people like Abraham and Joshua to move, they did not argue with God like most of us will do today. All they did was to believe and then stepped out in faith. If you have certified that it is God leading you, feel free and take that step.
• Step out of your comfort zone:I understand that long before fire-fighters run into a burning building, they practice and train for the experience. You can do the same. Look for ways to mitigate the potential for damage in the situations you face. Educate yourself; know your facts. Preparing for a presentation? Practice the speech over and over. Ready to follow your dream? Make a list of some of the things you’ll do first to gain momentum.
• Prepare for the outcomes:Take baby steps into low-risk situations that make you uncomfortable. That will help boost your confidence and courage when it comes to coping with more difficult scenarios. So, stick your neck out. Speak up when you’d usually keep quiet. Practice facing your fears.
• Evaluate and celebrate the end result: When you do take on something that requires a good dose of personal courage, recognize the achievement. Notice that you took a risk and survived. You stood up for something that mattered, and you persisted. Give yourself credit and know that you can do it again, if you have to.

So my challenge for you today is to stand up to your fear and become courageous for once for the sake of your purpose and destiny.

What is your take on cultivating courage? Would you please share with me in the comment box below?