Transcripts

Bill Treasurer:
I would say that the definition of courage is not the absence of fear. In fact, when you are in a courageous moment you're in a fearful moment - but it is proceeding despite the fact that you're afraid.

Bill Treasurer, author of the book Courage Goes to Work…

So, for example you're giving a presentation at work (and you've never done that before) it can be a petrifying experience. Some people might shy away from it and come up with every excuse as to why to not do it. But the person who's really demonstrating courage is going to walk into that room (sure, their skin's going to get blotchy, their voice is going to shake) but they're moving forward in doing it anyway. That's the act of courage.

Being courageous isn't just about doing things you're afraid to do.

If all you want to be is courageous, go stick a sword down your throat. That's a courageous thing but it's also a dumb thing. You need discipline, you need focus, you need council, you need discrimination, you need other things to help fortify whether you should in fact do the courageous thing or not.

If you want to progress in your life, Bill says, courage is absolutely necessary.

I think that there's a mistake that a lot of people make - to think that courage is only for daredevils and big gamblers. And it's just not true. In fact there's what I would call an everyday courage. So a courageous act for somebody at work could be taking on a project where other people have failed, raising your hand at a meeting and offering an idea, not biting your tongue. So there are small but very important ways that we can be demonstrating courage at work.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.