Courage When It Counts
Hey Everyone, I’m back after an unplanned two-week break. No big crisis, just a creative lull. I’ve always believed if you have nothing worth saying, it’s fine to say nothing. But I’d like to get back to a weekly rhythm. Oliver Burkeman, one of my favorite writers, only posts, The Imperfectionist, twice a month. I want to be more frequent than that, but only if there’s substance.
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” - Winston Churchill
Burkeman’s latest piece, on the different kinds of scrolling, hit home. There’s reading scrolling, watching scrolling, and “hoarding” scrolling, saving links you’ll never revisit. It’s like a to-do list that never shrinks, each lingering task quietly mocking you. There’s a certain relief in wiping the slate clean and admitting some things simply aren’t getting done or read. That’s a hard truth for Type A personalities.
Summer, at least the concept of it, is over here. The kids go back to school this week: my son into third grade, my daughter into kindergarten. As a kid, summer’s start and end mattered. Then it didn’t. Now, as a parent, it matters again. Summer scrambles routines with camps, odd drop-offs, and late mornings. I won’t miss the chaos, but I will miss the freedom to hit the gym every morning. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be back in the classroom for my sixth semester teaching, what my wife and I call “hustle season.”
Speaking of hustle, we recently purchased a house for Jackie’s business. Her retail studio is now a drop-in space for projects, and the “Art House” will host camps and scheduled classes. It’s been an exciting experience to witness her business evolve. I am looking forward to the next phase of her entrepreneurial endeavors.
I’ve been reading more fiction this summer. Highly recommend Project Hail Mary before the movie drops in March. Andy Weir’s blend of astrophysics, regular physics, chemistry, mathematics, and biology is impressive, even if you’re not into sci-fi. I also wrapped up the Red Rising series and finally read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which is not fiction but is almost too wild to be true. Even bookstores have a hard time figuring out where to put it. I’d seen the Johnny Depp film, but Hunter S. Thompson’s writing is even wilder on the page. It’s raw, fearless, maybe a little too fearless.
That brings me to courage, something I’ve written about before: The Courage to Start, and the Courage to Say No. One is about leaping; the other, about knowing when not to.
A co-worker and I were talking this week about leadership competencies. Courage in leadership means standing out front, challenging the status quo, and making your position clear even when it’s unpopular. But there’s a fine line; too much courage, and you can burn bridges or pick fights you shouldn’t.
Courage isn’t the absence of fear; it’s acting despite it. Fear exists for a reason; it’s evolutionary protection. As James Clear put it, “Your success depends on the risks you take. Your survival depends on the risks you avoid.” Early in your career, courage is easier because you have less to lose. Later, it’s tempting to play it safe, to protect the position you’ve built. It’s common for senior employees fearing being seen as incompetent, so there will be a lack of courage to ask for help or say you don’t know something. But courage isn’t about reckless risk-taking; it’s about standing up for the risks that matter.
As the school year starts and fresh beginnings roll in, find ways to practice courage. Introduce yourself to strangers. Ask for what you want. Risk the awkwardness of rejection. Courage is a skill, and like any skill, it gets stronger the more you use it.
“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.” - Rosa Parks
Don’t get captured,
