5 Ways to turn fear into courage

Have you considered that without fear, there would be no need for courage?

Therefore, in a strange way we can be grateful for our fears because they allow us to be courageous.

It would be logical and easy to think that our lives would be better if we didn’t have fears.

On closer inspection, we quickly realise that fear is very necessary for our survival.

Whilst in the wild a caveman’s fear must have been incredibly intense at times to physically survive on a daily basis, in the modern world predators who try to take from us physically are rare. For the most part the threat is mostly emotional and very often manufactured in our own heads. 

The trick is to realise when the fear is real rather than imagined or purely something built up in our own heads. 

When competing in anything, we need to be courageous.

What does this mean?

The threat of loss creates enormous fear and causes us to forget what needs to be done in order to win. When this fear hits, there is panic and clear thinking goes out the window. 

How do you combat this? 

Well, you are courageous if you can do the following:

1. Accept that winning and losing is part of life and the best you can do is to give yourself the best chance of winning. 
2. Stick to your plan and processes and let the chips fall where they will.
3. You will be classed as courageous when you resist, when everything in your mind and body is screaming, runaway from the responsibility of doing the right thing under this pressure because that’s the most comfortable and easiest thing to do’  and face up, forcing yourself to do what is right.
4. Realise that the more you resist the urge to cave in the easier being courageous will become.
5. Realise you will never get to the point where you have no fear because it is human to fear. The rationality is to remember that your opponent is not immune to fear and to never assume they are mentally more courageous than you. 

Courage is not the absence of fear but a way of thinking that creates enough courage to inspire a different outcome. 

Written by David Sammel