Courage: It's Just About... Life

Have the courage to live up to your potential, for without courage all is lost.

I heard this line just the other day as I listened to a discussion (and advice) about selling. Sales is a field, a job, a career where courage is a must, because rejection will rule most of your existence. You have to have the courage and the tenacity and the willingness to not give up and to not back down. As Zig Ziglar said, "timid salesman have skinny kids."

But it goes much deeper and not just for those who sell (though we all sell something, especially to one another). The actual definition is the mental, or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. Or to state it much more simply, as a friend of mine so eloquently does: "pack a set of nuts and keep on going."

Whether you are selling something, are in some other career, not working at all, just starting out, or simply living life -- and flying high, or feeling low -- courage is a must. For without courage, all is lost.

Think about it. Those who find a way to make it through in the face of what sometimes seems like overwhelming obstacles, challenges, or heartbreak. Whether it is in their blood, or they developed the unbreakable spirit to persevere, it is courage that keeps them going.

Or how about someone doing what they were born to do, someone living up to their potential. This too takes tremendous courage. You know why? Because they have found theirs. Their WHY.

Have you?

On the surface it might seem like figuring out what your WHY is inconsequential, or even worthless. After all you might be living just fine, work, family, fun, health -- all in good harmony. And there is certainly nothing wrong with that scenario and maybe no changes need to happen. After all it's your life, you should get to design it.

But are you, have you, do you want to? And are you living life at a level which truly matches what you believe to be your potential? Have you the courage to know what that is? Have you figured out what your WHY is and then HOW you could use it to help others to gain, to relieve pain, to enhance their lives and in doing so, enhance your won.

It takes courage. Be honest, most people don't know what they are really capable of. Very few take the time to figure it out, reflect on it, plan a strategy, have the discipline to grind it out -- to live a life where the sky is truly the limit and then bask in the glow of the soulful rewards of having done just that -- of giving back in a way that the world will long remember.

We each have that inside of us. It's called your potential. Figuring out what it is you were born to do and then figuring out how you can use that "superpower" you harness to dent the universe. Believe me the universe needs some denting, and YOU are just the person to make it happen.

It's not necessarily about making a name for yourself, it's not about taking center stage, unless you choose to do so. Not everyone wants to stand out, some wish to stay in. That's fine. But you are still cheating yourself out of the true possibilities of life, of significance and the ability to impact others in amazing ways, if you don't take the time to figure out how to live up to your potential.

It takes courage. Do you have it? You know you do, you just have to reach deep inside and seize it.

For without it, all is lost.

Until next time, thanks for taking the time.
Mark (www.markbrodinsky.com)

Mark Brodinsky, Author, Huffington Post Blogger, Speaker, Emmy Winner, Financial Services

Author: The #1 Amazon Best-Seller: It Takes 2. Surviving Breast Cancer: A Spouse's Story
(www.spouses-story.com)