Doing what it takes to achieve personal success is more than an exercise in discipline; it’s also an exercise in courage. Just getting through the day–let alone reaching for the starts–requires courage. That’s why true courage is a priceless commodity.
In examining the true nature of courage. I (Jim Rohn) can’t put it any better than the Greek philosopher Aristotle did more than two thousand years ago: “A truly courageous person is not someone who never feels fear, but who fears the right thing, at the right time, in the right way.”
What does it mean to fear the right thing in the right way at the right time?
To find the answer, let’s consider some specific sources of fear that many individuals are facing right now.
First, many people today are afraid of what might happen to them financially. And it’s certainly true that great changes are taking place in the economy that will have a direct impact on the lives of millions of people. I’ve heard it said that a corporation that employs ten thousand men and women today may only need one-fifth that many within ten years. Over the last fifty years, whole sections of our society have learned to identify with the corporation that employed them. That corporation provided not only a salary, but also health benefits and the opportunity to create a pension fund that would make retirement possible at age sixty-five or even sooner. Now that relationship between the employer and the corporation is changing. Much of the work that used to be done by domestic workers can now be done more cheaply overseas, and companies are taking advantage of that… perhaps out of necessity, perhaps simply to fatten the bottom line. In any case, the fear of losing one’s job has now reached a segment of the white collar work force that’s never been faced with it in quite this way.
What else are we afraid of? Many people are concerned about their health. They’re afraid that they’ll get sick because they’re not getting enough exercise or because they’re eating the wrong things or because of chemicals in the environment. In fact, I think people today are even more frightened of these things than they were in the past, when epidemics of disease and poor sanitation were everywhere.
Also with regard to their health, people are afraid of the expenses that might result if they were to become sick or disables, or of the expenses they might have to bear if this were to happen to a parent or family member.
So financial fears and health-related fears are two of our major concerns. But the third thing that I sense really scares people today is a little less easy to categorize. It’s kind of a general feeling that things aren’t as good as they used to be, that there’s been a loss of control at some basic level of our society. There’s a sense that one earthquake after another–some large and obvious, some smaller and almost imperceptible–have accumulated to shift the foundation of society, and it’s going to keep on shifting toward a result that’s anything but good.
Keeping in mind our idea that a courageous person is not someone who never feels fear, but who fears the right thing at the right time in the right way, let’s ask ourselves if these fears really fit that definition.
I think if we look a little deeper, we’ll see that what really scares people about these situations is the sense that they’re going to be helpless–that all their trust was placed in somebody or something, and now they’ve been let down and they can’t do anything about it.
But remember, you’re never really helpless. And the sense that you are helpless, or that you might be if certain things were to happen, is what we really ought to be afraid of. We should refuse to accept it. You’re never just a victim of circumstances. No matter what happens, you’re never without options that can get you back on track. It takes courage to recognize that, because it means accepting responsibility for your own future. I would suggest that we should accept that responsibility. No one is really going to accept it for us, no matter what we may have been led to believe.
Let me emphasize that underlying most fear is the fear of helplessness, of being victimized, of being blown around by the winds of fate like a leaf is blown off a tree. But is that really a legitimate way of looking at things? It sounds to me like being afraid of the dark, in which case the best thing to do is get yourself up out of bed and switch on the light. After all, the people who built this country didn’t feel helpless when they faced obstacles that we can hardly even imagine today. I’m not saying we should all just gather around the campfire and tell stories about George Washington, but we should realize that every generation has faced insecurities, lived with them, and triumphed over them. It’s only in the past fifty years or so that people have come to expect a life without real tough times and real difficulties. But adversity isn’t something to fear, it’s something to expect, something to prepare for, and something to overcome.
The truly courageous person is not immune to fear, but fear plays a different role in his or her life than it does for other people. If you ‘re a courageous person, your fears aren’t about what someone might do to you. Your fears aren’t about something that might happen to you. Instead, your fears are about not living up to your ideals, about reacting instead of acting, about not taking advantage of the opportunities that are always within reach.
A truly courageous person is not afraid of what might or might not happen next week or next year. He isn’t afraid to make the most of every moment today. A truly courageous person fears the impulse to dominate other people. She leads by helping others to be their best. A truly courageous person fears doing anything that he or his loved ones might be ashamed of.
A truly courageous person fears making appearances more important than realities… making impressions more important than communication… making himself more important than those who are depending on him.
But there’s one thing a courageous person fears most. Have you ever seen a deer caught in the headlights of a car? The way the deer just stands there as though paralyzed, with the car bearing down? The truly courageous person fears ever getting caught like that. A constant part of his or her life is dedicated to making sure it never happens.
In other words, the truly courageous person, as someone once said, fears nothing except fear itself.
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn