36 Small Ways to Build Big Courage

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.  ~William Shakespeare

You are afraid of something. I know you are.  I’m afraid of something too. It doesn’t matter what you fear, it matters what you do with it.  Every change in your life requires that you do something new, something you’ve never done before, something that scares you.  If you wish to grow, if you wish to live, you must act. Don’t wait to start living. Act with courage and discover the freedom to live NOW.

Life shrinks and expands in proportion to one’s courage.  ~Anais Nin

Pick three of your favorite courage builders from the list below and do them RIGHT NOW. Then pick the three courage builders that scared the crap out of you and set a deadline in your daily planner to complete each within one week.  If you don’t have a planner, post the three new actions on your bathroom mirror WITH the due date.  Then, go get yourself a daily planner, set some goals, and start achieving your dreams.

1. Ask for the leadership role on your next project.
2. Take an acting class and learn how to “act” like an idiot instead of doing it by accident.
3. Smile at complete strangers until one of them smiles back at you.
4. Compliment a complete stranger on anything (appearance, technical ability, possession, etc) you like about them. Ask them where they got it.
5. Get a black dragon Henna tattoo on your shoulder and show everyone.
6. Get a kick-ass resume and send it to 10 potential employers.
7. Call & speak to the hiring manger from10 potential employers.  Convince him to give you an interview.
8. Join your local chapter of Toastmasters and learn how to give a speech.
9. Volunteer at a local charity and learn how to give without asking for anything back.
10. Volunteer to present your current team project at the next customer review.
11. Start a blog about your most passionate goal.
12. Define your Life Purpose and send it to your 5 closest friends.  Ask them to help you get started.
13. Join a new community through Tribe.Net and make friends with someone you think is more interesting than you.
14. Research the internet for a new mentor.  Call and ask her to help you improve you skills & abilities.
15. Create a 6 month plan for your upcoming career change. Get career change guidance if you don’t know how.
16. Go out to a dance club and actually dance.
17. Take a social dancing class and learn that it takes both leaders and followers to make a project into something truly amazing.
18. Research a potential employer’s website and write a kick-ass cover letter to go with your kick-ass resume.
19. Buy a new business suit (at the mall, online retailer, or support your local Goodwill charity) that matches the promotion, leadership position, or raise that you want and deserve. Wear it the very next day at work.
20. Buy a set of red capes and wear them out to a park with your family and friends for a superhero picnic.
21. Frame your goals and hang them on the wall so that your family and friends will read them and ask you about your progress.
22. Teach a child how to read, do math, or sell lemonade on the corner (Marketing skills are just as important as a high school diploma).
23. Join a gym, hire a personal trainer, and commit to loosing 10 pounds in the next two months.
24. Ask 3 coworkers to write you a letter of recommendation for your upcoming performance review, raise discussion, or job hunt.
25. Build proof that you Rock! (You can even call it your Rockstar file) Collect written documents (letters, performance reviews, printed email) from your leadership & peers that you make a difference to your job, your community, and your friends. Ask for written proof whenever you finish a project.
26. Write a thank you letter to someone that helped you finish an important task last week. Hand deliver it and read it to them.
27. Cook dinner from scratch for 10 of your closest friends.  At dinner, make a toast to the most amazing thing you know about each one.
28. Introduce yourself to one of your neighbors even if you’ve lived on the same street for 15 years. Discover something you both have in common and talk about it.
29. Surprise your wife, husband, significant other, or best friend by personally delivering flowers at their work office. Don’t stay for more than 5 minutes and don’t tell anyone else.  Enjoy the reward of doing a good deed without asking for praise.
30. Write a short story or article, send it to a writing contest or magazine editor, and convince them to publish it.
31. Make a list of 30 things that scare you and show it to your best friend.
32. Tell someone NO and mean it.
33. Pick one of your risky but exciting goals, plan out the next 10 actions you need to complete in order to reach it and, do 2 of those actions within the next 24 hours.
34. Get a completely new haircut and don’t say anything to anyone about it, ever.
35. Create a Vision Board and hang it on your office or bedroom wall.  Spend 15 minutes a day envisioning the life you want to live and believing that your are capable of living that life. (Because you are!)
36. Read at least 1 quote about courage every day for the next 30 days. Here’s 10 of my favorites to get you started!

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”  ~Ambrose Redmoon

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”  ~Plato

“The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”  ~Albert Einstein

“Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” ~Edmund Burke

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.”  ~Sven Goran Eriksson

“Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.”  ~Raymond Lindquist

“If you wait to do everything until you’re sure it’s right, you’ll probably never do much of anything.” ~Win Borden

“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” ~Christopher Robin to Winnie-the-Pooh

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.”  ~William Shedd

The person who says something is impossible, should not interrupt the person who is doing it ~Chinese Proverb

Instead of giving it to fear, build the courage to face it one small step at a time. 10 steps from now, you’ll be surprised at what you have already accomplished. 20 steps from now you’ll be amazed at what you no longer fear. And in 36 steps, you might be ready to change your entire world.

BREAK

How do you inspire your own courage? What one action can you do everyday to start achieving your dreams and your goals? Share your ideas in the comment section!

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