We frequently have two conflicting drives operating in our lives. One is to stay safe, stick with the familiar and the known, survive, maintain the status quo, and avoid risk. The other is to learn, grow, expand, thrive, and do better.

Courage allows us to get out of the survive drive and embrace the growth drive. Courage is doing the “right” things simply because we know they are the “right” things whether we feel like it or not. The courageous actions allow us to become the people we want to be and to achieve the results we want to achieve.

Courage is not about the outcome. It is about the action. It takes the same amount of courage to get a “yes” as it does a “no” because it took courage to make the ask. So, when we celebrate the courage rather than the end result, we circumvent that survival drive where we are worried about failure and looking good. Instead, we look good in our own eyes because we went for it. Or as Brene Brown says, we dared greatly!

Courage therefore allows us to be more persistent.