Let’s make sure we have one thing straight before we start: thinking about courage accomplishes nothing. I’m reminded of a riddle I heard a year or so ago, one I often torture my teenage son with: Q: Four frogs are sitting on a log. Three decide to jump off. How many are left? A: Four. […]
Wherever you go, there you are. I have no idea who first said this, and for once, Google is no help. It’s the title of a book by Jon Kabat-Zinn, first published in 1994, but a friend of mine used to use the phrase in high school in the late ’80s. But where it comes […]
The sixth of Todd Henry’s Everyday Acts of Bravery: Find Your Voice. Like most of these everyday acts, it takes a moment of thought to understand what finding your voice has to do with bravery. Then again, anyone who’s ever stood mute and allowed someone to verbally abuse them understands this concept intuitively. Anyone who’s […]
I spent twelve years in the U.S. Army, five on active duty and seven with the Texas Army National Guard. Of the seven years, two were active duty: half a year supporting the Texas airport security mission after the attacks in 2002, and eighteen months training up for and deployed to Iraq in 2004 and […]
I haven’t felt very courageous lately. My book didn’t make the quarterfinals, but that wasn’t entirely surprising. A Square Foot of Calfskin was a long shot, just like every other book that entered that contest. If you’re interested, you can find the list of quarter-finalists here. No, failing is part of the game when you […]
The second of Todd Henry’s Everyday Acts of Bravery: Be Fiercely Curious. Curiosity is an aspect of courage I haven’t addressed here before, but it’s critical. Especially if we aspire to create art, seek truth, get people talking. It’s the antithesis of dogma: rather than rejecting anything that doesn’t line up with our preconceived notions […]
Martha’s Daily Inspiration. I don’t remember where I first learned about Martha Beck, but I get a daily message of inspiration from her. Yes, I receive a lot of inspirational messages daily and weekly. For me, a big part of maintaining a positive outlook is consuming positive messages. The Internet makes that easy. Unfortunately, it […]
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who […]
Q: Four frogs are sitting on a log. Three decide to jump off. How many are left? A: Four. Deciding to jump isn’t jumping. Most of us have said this to ourselves at one time or another: I’m going to do it this time. I didn’t do it last time because [insert excuse here]. The […]
Courage isn’t always easy to find in business, whether you’re looking among individual contributors or managers. After all, we’re taught from a young age to keep our mouths shut, follow directions, stay in line, wait for permission. Much easier just to follow the rules and let others take risks than to take them ourselves–we gotta […]