174: [Solo] The Best Question to Boost Your Courage in the Face of Fear on the TalentGrow Show with Halelly Azulay

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ep174 SOLO the best question to boost your courage in the face of fear The TalentGrow Show with Halelly Azulay

In my work as a leadership development strategist, speaker, and facilitator, I meet a lot of people and unfortunately, way too many of them are playing too small, too safe. I see a lack of courage. On this solo episode of the TalentGrow Show, I suggest a question to ask yourself in the face of fear.

In my work as a leadership development strategist, speaker, and facilitator, I meet a lot of people and unfortunately, way too many of them are playing too small, too safe.

I see a lack of courage.

On this solo episode of the TalentGrow Show, I suggest a question to ask yourself in the face of fear. A question that I hope will help boost your courage and help you move forward towards your scary but worthy goals.

Take a listen, weigh in with your own opinion, and share with others!

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN:

In this mini-series on the theme of courage, I will share:

  1. The best question to boost your courage in the face of fear

  2. What to do if you’re paralyzed by fear

  3. How to make big decisions in a way that leaves you with no regrets

LET’S LOOK AT THE BEST QUESTION TO BOOST YOUR COURAGE IN THE FACE OF FEAR

In her book Lean In and the movement that it launched, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg challenges women to answer this question: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”. I think this is a positive message that helps bring self-awareness to limiting beliefs and barriers to courage. And she does implore women to “then go do it.” And I want to build on it and extend it.

For one, I do not wish to only address women. I want to address men also. Because fear holds a lot of people back.

In my work as a leadership development strategist, speaker, and facilitator, I meet a lot of people and unfortunately, way too many of them are playing too small, too safe.

I see a lack of courage – not Courage with a capital C like the kind that makes you run into a burning building and save babies and puppies. No. I mean 'small-c' courage -- the kind that lets you see your fears, face them square on, and take action toward your big, scary goals IN SPITE of that fear.

So I want to build on that question and make it more actionable. I want to "yes, and" it. 

“Would do” implies that it is something that is abstract, in the wishing realm. Like something you can imagine but aren’t planning to actually act on. The word ‘if’ in “if you weren’t afraid” implies that in order to go and do that thing, you need to not be afraid.

But people who do amazing, courageous, and gutsy things absolutely feel fear.

What’s different about them is that they

  1. recognize and accept that fear will be present, and

  2. don’t use it as an excuse to avoid action.

They don’t wait for some magical future time when fear will not be present in order to act on their dreams or convictions.

They push forward in the face of fear – they act in spite of being afraid.

That is what defines courage.

So I’d like to take that question a step further and ask:

“What will you do even though you are afraid?”

What will you do.jpg

I want you to face your fear and act. I want to help you build the courage to take those first steps, second steps, tenth steps, all the way to the destination and deal with the feeling of fear as a normal and natural side-effect of being fully alive.

Just imagine what you will be able to achieve if you WERE afraid but STILL took action to achieve your big, scary goals? Go do THAT!

YOUR TURN

  • Where is fear currently holding you back, and how can you apply this question to help you move forward in spite of that fear?

  • What other ideas do you have for boosting courage?

  • Would you like to submit a topic for a future solo episode? You can use the voice messaging widget right here on the website and then I can even play your audio (with your permission, of course) on the episode! Or you can send me an email, or a ‘contact us’ form on this site, or a comment-based question, or a tweet…. You get the picture. Anyway you like it, I would love to hear your question!

This content originally appeared in this TalentGrow blog post.

About Halelly Azulay

Have we met? I'm Halelly Azulay. I'm an author, speaker, facilitator, and leadership development strategist and an expert in leadership, communication skills, and emotional intelligence. I am the author of two books, Employee Development on a Shoestring (ATD Press) and Strength to Strength: How Working from Your Strengths Can Help You Lead a More Fulfilling Life. My books, workshops and retreats build on my 20+ years of professional experience in communication and leadership development in corporate, government, nonprofit and academic organizations.

I am the president of TalentGrow LLC, a consulting company focused on developing leaders and teams, especially for enterprises experiencing explosive growth or expansion that want a more proactive, strategic approach to leadership development. We specialize in growing leadership capabilities, improving communication skills, building stronger teams, and upgrading emotional intelligence. TalentGrow develops leaders across all organizational levels, including C-level leaders, frontline managers, emerging leaders, and individual contributors. People hire me to speak at conferences and meetings and to facilitate leadership workshops, but what I love most is to help fast growing organizations create a leadership development strategy and approach.

I'm a contributing author to numerous books, articles and blogs. I was described as a “Leadership Development Guru” by TD Magazine. I blog, publish a leadership podcast (um, hello?!), and have a popular free weekly subscription newsletter – so you should definitely sign up at www.tinyurl.com/talentgrow.