Courage

So I mentioned on my It Girl Connection about a tweet I read that asked "what would you do if you had Unlimited Courage". It really got my attention and gave me reason to stop and think. I found this so refreshing. I love love love it! I have been to so many business seminars and heard many motivational speakers and the usual mantra is "if you knew you could not fail what would you do, what would your goals be, what would your dreams be..." I understand the use of this to get people pumped up. To allow them to dream big. If the dream is big enough, the facts do not count you know. Now, for as many times as I heard this it gave me a time of excitement and daring to dream about something. However, I never truly embraced it or internalized it to move on in career or business. While that is largely a function of me I know, I also think it is a indication of the statement not hitting home with me.
"Unlimited Courage" is a home run. Anyone who has had a large amount of success has had to take risks in doing so. Usually the bigger and badder the risk, the greater the reward. An example that may show this best is in the stock market - I think we all agree that if you want a big fast return, the investment is going to be big and risky. And more importantly, your investment may fail. Yes fail. To step out in faith on yourself, your idea, your business, I hate to break it to you but you will fail. Maybe once, maybe twice, maybe even more times than you can count. Thomas Edison was in the triple digits of failure. Maybe this is why the tried and true "if you could not fail" line of thinking did not resonate with me. I could open my mind at a seminar and dream, but deep down I knew failure was part of the plan. How much could really dream knowing there would be failure no matter how I tired to think it away? As I said before, you will fail on your way to success. It is not the absence of failure that will get you to your goals. It is how you handle that failure that brings you to success. What does it take to tackle failure? I say Courage!
Mary Kay says you will fail your way to success in business. I would agree with her. I have had plenty of misteps and failures, but the business is going and the money is growing. Some of the things I need to do to succeed in Mary Kay I truly do not like. In fact you could put the fear word in there. How do I make myself do those things? Courage. While it may not be "unlimited" as yet, I truly believe that the more I flex my courage muscle the bigger it grows. I like the fact that focusing on the courage factor is a positive thought which I think is easier to do than to negate or deny something ("not" fail).
In business you cannot always prevent failure. You can do everything right and still not get the sale. In business, failure is not neccessarily under your sole control as your actions usually involve other people. And we all know, we cannot control others. However, your courage is yours; you control it. It is in you, Think about it. The Cowardly Lion did not have to deny his circumstances, he did not even go to a seminar, someone simply reminded him he already had courage in him and acknowledged it. And what a change that made.
We all have courage in us. You may not think so but take time and reflect on all aspects of your life- were you in a dance recital, did you give a speech in school, did you meet a new friend, did you join a gym? It does not have to be superhero courage, courage exists in many levels. For me it takes courage to call a customer - yeah go figure. That is certainly not facing monst type courage, but is courage none the less.
Courage, unlimited courage, is in all of us. It is what will propel you to act in the face of your failures. When you have "courageously" faced your challenges and yes, your failures, it is then that you will get your dreams and goals.
Have a courageous day!!!!