If you look at the most revered people in history, the people
who have done the most for the world, the people
who have pushed society forward, you'll invariably find
that a major characteristic of those individuals is courage.
But what is courage?
S. J. Rachman, a Canadian psychologist specializing in
fear and courage, says that many people think of courage as
fearlessness. However, Rachman defines courage as perseverance
in the face of fear and stress.
Courage is a personal strength, which equates
to the ability to act when others of lesser courage
will not. It's the ability to act in spite of fear and overwhelming
opposition. It's the ability to act in spite of hardship,
despair and sometimes, imminent personal physical danger.
Ask yourself, Who's the most courageous individual
you've personally known? Next, who's the most courageous
person you can identify throughout history? Now,
what were the courageous characteristics that caused you
to choose these individuals? My personal favorite is
Winston Churchill. At the end of World War I, Churchill
was in charge of the British navy. After a major naval
defeat, he was removed from office and then had to endure
more than 20 years of rejection of his political views. He
admittedly suffered some very low times. But he never
wavered on his beliefs. His views were eventually proven
correct when the Germans swept through Europe, and
Churchill was the obvious choice to become Britain's
wartime prime minister.
Everyone automatically looked to him in this time of
need because they knew where he stood and they witnessed
him display courage in battle, putting himself in harm's
way over and over again. His personal courage and determination
helped inspire an entire nation to continue to resist
a force that at the time must have seemed to most ... insurmountable.
And yet Churchill wasn't a likely person to
become courageous. According to Stephen Mansfield, in his
book Never Give In: The Extraordinary Character of
Winston Churchill, Churchill didn't have physical strength
or towering stature. He was neglected, ridiculed, and misused
by friends and family alike. He was brought up in the
leisure class, which seldom produces principled men of
vision. However, in spite of all that, he developed a staggering
moral and physical bravery.
Mansfield goes on to say about courage, "It cannot be
taught, though it can be inspired. And it normally springs
from something like faith or resolve — a commitment to
something larger than oneself. It can burst forth instantly as
though awakened by a sudden jolt. But, more often, it waits
in silence until aroused by some pressing challenge. What
is certain of courage, though," he says, "is that true leadership
is impossible without it."
Churchill himself said, "Courage is rightly esteemed the
first of human qualities, because it is the quality that guarantees
all others."
Mansfield is right to say that it would be difficult to teach
someone to operate at, as he says, "the staggering level of
courage of a Churchill or a Gandhi or a Martin Luther King."
However, it's been proven that courage can be learned, and
that is incredibly important for any of us who would like to
increase our courage in some area of our lives.
Among S. J. Rachman's research, he observed the military
bomb-disposal officers serving in the British army in
Northern Ireland. He discovered that these men were able to
cultivate a great capacity for courage, even if they initially
lacked a high degree of self-confidence or a natural ability
to persist under pressure. He found that the ability to persist
and function well in the face of great danger was largely
the result of intense and specialized training for their job.
Not only being prepared, but knowing you are prepared.
Denis Waitley describes fear as one of the strongest motivating
emotions we can experience. Yet we do have the
power to choose an even stronger motivation that can override
fear and cause us to act courageously.
Denis used to be a Navy pilot, and he observed the
training of our astronauts. After some of the most arduous
and intense training ever devised, astronauts have been
able to act efficiently and effectively, even in incredibly
dangerous situations. As Neil Armstrong said after he
walked on the moon, "It was just like a drill. It was just
like we planned it."
It's apparent that we can become more courageous
with enough preparation. If we venture, we do so by
faith, because we cannot know the end of anything at its
beginning. Isn't this the ultimate reason that doubt and
fear are able to eat away at our courage? We're fearful
because we cannot know the end of anything at its beginning,
and we start imagining the worst possible scenarios.
So, it seems our best chance to overcome fear and
become courageous is to prepare and then have faith.
Now, in what area of your life would you like to become
more courageous?
Vic Conant is the President of Nightingale-Conant Corporation, the world leader in personal development. Read more articles by Vic Conant.