Advising someone to take the courage to do something is much easier said than done. Some people are fortunate and have been taught to be courageous from the very first moment their life began, some may have learned to be courageous as a direct result of what life has thrown at them and some might struggle with this concept their entire lives, not feeling able to be courageous nor wanting to be, for what ever reason.

This is totally OK. I am the first one to respect people’s personal character traits. As far as I am concerned, I fall into the category of someone who has had to learn to be courageous, as a matter of fact I am still learning. Before we get too comfortable with our “we cannot” attitude, it might be worthwhile looking at how “we can” allow our courage to evolve. Nothing complicated, no psychology, no science – just simply looking at some ways that might help.

How about looking back at our own experiences? When was the last time we were able to summon our courage to do something? What kind of situation was it? How did it work exactly and what was our strategy behind it at that time? If it worked once, then it could work again.

How about changing our perspective on obstacles, challenges, difficulties and conflicts? What if we wanted to try to attempt things out of our comfort zone and try to look at them, not from the point of view of having to overcome them, but from the point of view of allowing ourselves to be inspired - being inspired by imagining a positive outcome and the good things that will follow. Even if the outcome might not seem to be very inspiring in the first instance, it is far better to have acted rather than done nothing and we can use what we have learned in the future.

How about looking at role models? How do they do it? If you have your own personal role models, you might want to follow their paths. If possible look for an exchange with them and allow yourself to be inspired by listening to their speeches and talks (www.ted.com) or by reading their books.

Last, but not least, remember that we are not alone. Best friends, colleagues, “even” bosses can be mentors from whom you can draw the inspiration to be more courageous.

Take the courage to let your courage evolve and to transform each obstacle into a source of inspiration.