Our Moral Compass: The Most Respectable Quality In Us All

“Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue that is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.”

-Samuel Johnson

When we think of certain qualities that someone may possess things like someone being kind, gentle, strong, resilient, caring, and assertive come to mind. However one of the most respectable qualities that comes to mind is courage. As Writer Samuel Johnson expresses in today’s quote courage is looked at as being something that is necessary in order to keep one’s high moral standards afloat. It is something that is always respected even when it is associated with our certain faults that we all have.

We all possess this wonderful quality. Some of us rely on it everyday when certain situations we face arise. Some however, due to certain trauma or a series of unfortunate events that may have occurred in their past has severely damaged their courage and fear has taken it’s place. To overcome this and replace that fear with courage we must put in the work to do so. It is like when we want to build our strength in the gym. We have to do certain workouts to train our muscles to become stronger. It takes time and effort but with a certain level of determination and dedication we can make it happen. Margie Warrell of Forbes wrote an article in 2015 called Train The Brave: 7 Steps To Building Your Courage Muscles. Here are her 7 steps for building our courage muscles:

1. Get Clear About What You Really Want-Write down a specific goal you would like to achieve in the next 6-12 months.
2. Identify Your Deepest Fear-Write down what you are afraid might happen if you take action toward your goal.
3. Be Honest About The Cost Of Inaction-Write down how you will feel about yourself if you do nothing
4. Break Your Big Vision Into Small Steps-Write down ten things you can do in the next seven days to move you into action.
5. Create Accountability-Ask at least one person to hold you to account for the 10 things you wrote down above, and set up a weekly call-in with them to keep you on track.
6. Walk With Giants-Research networks, associations and communities of like-minded people whom you could join for education, collaboration, and encouragement.
7. Train The Brave Daily-Set yourself up for success by doing whatever it takes to stay in action.

When you begin implementing any of these steps, you put yourself on the path towards developing courage from within.

What does this quote mean to you and how can you apply today’s message towards managing yourself better?