Tag / action

by Nathan Coumbe

Courage starts with you

It’s tempting to ask why people who have more power than you don’t use that power to change the situation.

But what about you? Why can’t you muster the courage to write a letter, make a phone call, or attend an event?

If you’re afraid to do something small in service to the change you want to make, how can you possibly expect someone else to do something bigger and potentially more consequential?

Often, the bigger the impact an action has, the more courage is required to act.

So, you must start small. Start with yourself, with the small things you know you can do.

Be brave in the little moments to model courage for others when the big moments come.

by Nathan Coumbe

You are the one you’ve been waiting for

At the end of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (spoiler alert), Harry stands near the lake waiting for his father to appear and ward off the dementors attacking Sirius’s, Hermione’s, and his past selves.

After waiting for an agonizing amount of time, he realizes that he was the person who conjured the Patronus and drove the creatures away, not his father. He was the person he’d been waiting for all along.

Even without time travel, this is a relevant lesson to us. We often sit around waiting for someone to swoop in and save the day. We wait for someone else to act.

The problem is that everyone else is doing the same thing—they are all waiting around for someone else to rescue them from whatever the problem may be.

At some point, you must wake up and realize you are the hero of your story. You are the person everyone else is waiting for to act.

Someone eventually has to take a stand, so it might need to be you.

by Nathan Coumbe

Do you actually need more information?

…or do you simply need to act on the information you already have?

Often, research is a symptom of fear. After a certain point, gathering more data is just procrastination. 

It’s worth asking this question when you’re feeling anxious to start something new.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Hit the buzzer before you know the answer

The secret to winning Jeopardy?

Hit the buzzer before you know the answer

If you wait until you know the answer, that split second hesitation lets the other person get ahead of you.

If you hit the buzzer first, you’ll at least have a chance of getting it right.

But if you wait, the opportunity to succeed instantly passes you by.

(H/t to Seth Godin for reminding me of this principle.)

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by Nathan Coumbe

Action brings clarity (not thinking)

You can sit and think all you want… Contemplating your next step, figuring out all the possible outcomes, anticipating roadblocks.

But eventually, you’ll have to do something.

And most of the time, that sort of thinking is just procrastination. And it usually happens because we’re scared to take action.

Ideas aren’t eggs. Sitting on them doesn’t help them hatch.

If you want to figure out if something is right or possible or good for you, try it and see what happens.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Which emotions are you feeding?

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”

—Jack Layton

Feelings becomes actions.

We cannot always control our emotions, but we can control our actions by choosing which feelings and emotions we feed.

We always have a choice.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Only with Action Can You Hope to Make a Difference

No one ever got paid for an idea alone. Only those who came up with an idea, or took someone else’s, and acted upon it have made a difference worth anything.

“I have more respect for the fellow with a single idea who gets there than for the fellow with a thousand ideas who does nothing.”

—Thomas Edison

I have dozens of ideas pop into my head each day when I’m taking a shower, walking at the park, or driving in silence. Not one has generated anything for me or anyone else except those I showed to the world. 

Better to have one idea and the will to act upon it than 1,000 ideas and procrastinate.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Fear Accompanies Us On All Our Exciting Adventures

Something I’ve been working on a lot during my deep dive into creativity and self-awareness is dealing with fear. It’s always there, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been able to find a way to get rid of it.

What I have learned, however, is simple: feel the fear…then act anyway. 

There Is No Danger…

Almost nothing we do in modern life is actually dangerous – it just feels dangerous, and our amygdala tells us to run as fast as we can in the other direction. Making a cold call, sending out batches of promo materials to prospective employers, sitting in an interview…none of these things are dangerous. They just feel dangerous.

Jumping out of a plane with no parachute is dangerous; driving while wearing a blindfold is dangerous.

Trying something new where you may be told no? That’s not dangerous.

Action Overcomes Fear

I’ve decided to feel the fear, and act anyway. First, it was making a phone call to get contact information for someone in charge of a job I desperately wanted to take. Then it was beginning the sales process of promoting myself to that person. Today, it was reaching out to an old contact – a professor at a local college – about working for her in her program.

Each time, I felt tremendous fear, then did the thing that scared me anyway Euphoria followed fear, then the fear melted away. 

And so far, 2 out of the 3 times, it has paid off. The person I called was incredibly kind and more than happy to give me the information I was seeking (why was I so scared?).

The contact at the college was very positive in her response (again, why was I so scared?).

And the third person? Well, I’m not done selling myself to him yet.

What is, and was, the worst that any of them could say? No? That’s not scary or dangerous. It just means I’ve got to try something else.

Win or Learn

But the best part of all this? If I act and succeed, then I win! If I act and fail, I STILL WIN! How? Because I did something that scared me, which makes it easier to do it again next time in a different situation. Because I’m exercising the muscle of action in the face of fear. Because I’m not basing my self-worth over how other people feel about me, what they say about me, or whether or not they say yes to my proposal. I don’t feel the need for that approval anymore – it’s just a happy bonus if I get it. 

I will quote Susan Jeffers at length here:

“We cannot escape fear. We can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us on all our exciting adventures…Take a risk a day – one small or bold stroke that will make you feel great once you have done it.”

–Susan Jeffers

I’ve decided to make fear my companion on this adventure called life. I hope you will too.

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by Nathan Coumbe

Talk isn’t just cheap–it’s poor.

Proverbs 14:23 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible:

“Work brings profit,

but mere talk brings poverty.”

–Proverbs 14:23

Talking about your ideas – the job you want, the business you feel like starting, the person you are thinking of asking out – does absolutely nothing for you.

Action – taking steps towards a goal – is the only thing that brings reward. Waiting for some outside force – a company to find and employ you or a government to protect you – won’t get you anywhere.

Mere talk is impoverishing.

Work and take action today.

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by Nathan Coumbe

What are you afraid of?

“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he could do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.”

–Henry Ford

In what areas do you doubt yourself?

What is the resistance telling you right now you cannot do?

Write it down; call it what it is. “Notice and name” as the folks over at Precision Nutrition like to say.

Don’t judge yourself; don’t feel guilty. Just say what it is. Then start asking why.

Why are you afraid?

You might find the answer surprising…you might also find that you have no answer and, perhaps, no reason to fear.

What one thing could you do right now to move away from the fear? What change do you desperately want to make but are too afraid to take the first step?

You can do it.