How to be brave

You want a life that is bigger and bolder and happier and more fulfilling. And yet you’re sitting there feeling small and scared and frustrated that you keep on listening to all those brain.gremlins that tell you that you aren’t good enough and that you shouldn’t even try because why would you possibly ever make anything of yourself and blahblahblah.

So boring.

Imagine instead, what life would look and feel like if you were brave. You know, really brave!

Here are six ideas to help you get there.

+ Set your own standards

If your standard is ‘Perfect’ you’ll never ever ever put it out there and then you’ll never ever ever achieve [which, paradoxically, will mean you’ll never ever ever have the life you want, so life will be anything but perfect…hmmm]. Aim for something different. Consciously set your standard as authentic or genuine or bold or whatever sits well with you. Write that down. Let it define your efforts.

+ Think about death

Think about what people will say when you die. Depressing I know but seriously, go ahead right now and think that. Will they say: oh she had good ideas but was too afraid to start. Or will they say oh she did such cool stuff! She was so inspiring! 

+Thank your brain

Your brain will tell you stuff to try and protect you: you’re not good enough! You will look stupid! People will laugh at you! Recognise that these are just thoughts, they aren’t necessarily the truth. Thank your brain for trying to protect you then choose what you want to do.

+Choose Autopilot

If you have to choose brave over and over again you will eventually opt-out [read: probably on Day 1]. Instead, make brave a habit. Make a big long list of tasks that will get you moving in the direction you want to go. Order them from least scary to most scary. Then do one a day [no opt-outs allowed] at a time of day when you’re feeling your most robust. [Tip: start with the easy stuff…]

+Remember: it’s not about you

[Um, sorry, what?! Isn’t everything about me?]

When you make being brave about you, any setbacks can feel entirely personal and can threaten to seriously derail your efforts. Instead, depersonalise your methods: create a project, give it a name, add a logo, create tasks and deadlines. Any perceived failures will reflect limitations in the project, not any personal flaws or inadequacies.

+Choose

Putting yourself out there can feel super confronting and uncomfortable [and potentially thrilling and exhilarating and life-affirming]. But sitting small and scared feels rotten and depressing and demoralising and e-x-h-a-u-s-t-i-n-g.

You get to choose.