Part 4: Courage

The final section of A Leader’s Legacy deals with courage. Initially, when I read the topic I was skeptical on how this relates to being a leader and leaving a positive legacy behind. As I read the first chapter I began to understand exactly why the indeed are related. When you ask people, “what is courage?” some of the first responses may include superhuman feats, life-and-death struggles or overcoming impossible odds. This is, in fact, incorrect. Courage is defined to be, the ability to face danger, difficulty, uncertainty, or pain without being overcome by fear or being deflected from a chosen course of action. The word that stands out the most to me in that definition is “fear”. Everyone has something different that they fear. For example, a common fear in young adults is public speaking. Some people just don’t like to talk in front of a group of people especially if it’s a group of their peers. While others love expressing themselves and have no problem getting up in front of others.  Courage is acknowledging ones fears and facing them. So for someone who hates public speaking, it would take them courage to make a presentation in front of a class. Everyone can show courage in everyday situations. When people take a step out of their comfort zone to better themselves or to be there for others, that can be a moment of courage.

But being courageous isn’t always easy. “If they were easy, they wouldn’t require courage.” A lot of the time, situations that involve courage is a back and forth decision. Its when people use the “what if” scenarios to help them make an overall decision.  The book talks about how they asked people to think about a time of courage. I wanted to think of a time that I displayed courage. It was hard at first but then I realized that being a leader in my sorority has brought out some of my courage. For instance, when I was first nominated for a coordinator position I was so excited. But then I was thinking that all eyes are on me and how all my sisters are relying on me to do my job in order for our chapter to succeed. I kept thinking, “What if I do a bad job?” or “What if nobody likes my ideas?” but I took a leap of faith, ran for the position and got it! Now I try my best everyday to for fill my tasks and it is really paying off. My sisters really see my efforts and its giving me the confidence to run for even more positions and take on more leadership responsibilities. I realized that life goes on. I decided to go for it and be courageous and it as allowed me to grow so much more. “Fear and Courage go Hand in Hand.”  If you didn’t fear it, then it would never of took you the courage to overcome it.

One of the chapters discusses how “It Takes Courage to Make a Life.” It takes courage to have a meaningful and significant life. This interested me because I never considered myself a very courageous person, but after reading this it made me think about all the life changing decisions I made and how it has helped me grow over my life. I also took the time to think about what my life would be like without those life changing decisions. I thought about “Would I be as happy as I am now?”  But my life wasn’t easy and still isn’t. I work hard for what I have and what I have accomplished. But I wouldn’t of been able to do so if I wasn’t humble.

The final thing I took from this last chapter was about failure. People as ways say things like “failure isn’t an option” or “get it right the first time” but those two saying are just wrong. If it wasn’t for the mistakes in our lives then we would of never learned how to fix them and how to grow. “The reality is that despite the probabilities, professionals (leaders) believe in the possibilities.” This has become one of my new favorite quotes becasue it is so true. If you are not optimistic about overcoming obstacles then how do you plan to succeed in anything challenging?