I get the question a lot about the difference between Bravery and Courage. Bravery is very similar to courage to me; they are interchangeable in most instances. I use bravery as a quality that we have in certain situations. It can mean taking the first step towards achieving the desires and goals that we have. When we decide to do this, we are not letting fear get in our way. I believe we all have different levels of Bravery, and they may be driven by the purpose and passions that we have. When I look at our military, they were willing to follow their purpose even though that meant putting themselves in situations more difficult than most of us. They are driven by bravery and a deeper purpose or passion.
Bravery feels more like a muscle to me – that some of us have bigger muscles, and some of us have smaller ones, but we all have the potential to be brave. Bravery requires that we get control of our fear. I have told my kids for years to Be Brave, not Perfect. The reason that I tell them that is that I want them to do hard things without the fear that they aren’t going to be perfect at it, or get it right the first time, but they should still do it. When we lack bravery, I think we also lack confidence in ourselves.
We do not believe that we can do it – it’s not that we are fearful of it, we just don’t believe in ourselves enough to bravely take the step. I also believe that bravery produces luck. The braver we are, the more chances we take, and the more “luck” comes our way.
So, think about the areas of your life where you are brave today and the areas that could use a little more bravery to push you forward to the next level of success.
