Micro Bravery....what a concept!
"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." - Walt Disney
"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill
Let me start by saying I didn't invent this effective methodology, I heard it on a Tim Ferriss Podcast (shout out) but that's perfectly OK. A good idea doesn't care where it comes from and there are much smarter folks out there then the likes of me and that's a fact and perfectly OK too. That's probably a reason you've hit my page, you're curious as to what's out there, concepts and methods for self improvement and personal development. The global community of like minded people dedicated to being a force for good and sharing and learning from each other is what it's all about. I hope this one helps, it did for me. Read on!
We often set ourselves huge challenges and then feel so overwhelmed by them that we don’t know where to start and maybe put them off altogether. The term Micro Bravery refers to the idea of teaching ourselves to be brave by taking small steps of action.
Due to the fact that bravery can be learned, to get good at it, we need to practice.
When I was a kid I faced a TON of anxiety and didn’t feel bravery and my name had any business being associated in the same zip code, let alone sentence! As the result of an abusive upbringing I was, suffice to say "a bit damaged". I was anxious about well, everything at some point or another.
The folks that know me now have a hard time reconciling who I was in my formidable years to the present day moi. What helped was taking small steps each day, getting to know my fears and learning how to manage them. Hey, I still struggle but a heck of a lot less.
These ideas can help support you to implement micro bravery in your own life:
1) Get to know your fear
Understand what it is that you are fearful about. Don’t view it as an enemy, don’t run from it. Get comfortable with the fact that there are things you are afraid of, and be OK with that. Consistently move forward with these things.
2) Do something outside your comfort zone every day
Identify small things that you can practice every day where you need to use courage. Find something you can implement each day that over times makes your fear start to be much less daunting and more natural for you. For example if you get anxious speaking to new people, try to speak to one stranger each day, even if it is just to say hi. You’ll be amazed how quickly you start to feel more comfortable with it.
3) Break it down
Being brave is much more manageable in small pieces. If there is something overwhelming you that you are scared about, try chucking it into small steps. If you are scared of giving presentations to large audiences, try practicing it in the mirror, then present it to someone you trust, then try it out in a small group, then build up slowly to a larger audience. This can be much easier than tackling it one huge step.
4) Accept perfection does not exist
If you constantly strive for perfection, it can result in you being more afraid of failure. This is due to the fact that you may not achieve the perfect outcome you have built up for yourself in your mind. If you drop the notion of perfection and instead aim for the best you can be, failure can stop existing for you and as a result lessens your fears.
5) Learn to recognise the difference between excitement and fear
At times it can at times be difficult to identify the difference between excitement and fear. They can both feel quite similar in sensation based on the fact that they’re chemically similar. Once you practice micro bravery, you can start to develop an understanding of the feeling of fear versus excitement and therefore stop any confusion between the two.
6) Transfer your bravery
If you learn how to be brave in certain situations and you practice that, this should help you out in other areas of your life, because it is a transferable skill. Once you get more familiar with being brave and practicing micro bravery in general, this can be applied across any area.
7) Work out your bravery muscle
Finally, being brave takes practice. You can think of it like a muscle that you need to work out. Like lifting weights at the gym, it’s not something that just happens overnight, it is something that needs to be built up over time and continually practiced in order to get better at it. If you are brave in the small moments, they will all add up, so that you can be brave when it really counts.
It would be awesome to hear any experience you have had at overcoming your fears and being brave......go forth and conquer!!!