Practicing Bravery as a Tool for Growth

So much of what we do at SpeechSkills is about personal growth. We actively challenge you to break out of habits that undercut your credibility and to “flex your courage muscle." After all, bravery isn’t only required for heroic actions, like taking control of an airplane when a pilot becomes incapacitated or beating off a shark to save a child, it's also necessary for speaking in front of an audience with confidence, engaging a stranger at a party, or asking your boss for a raise. Seemingly ordinary acts often call us to be extraordinarily brave.

Caroline Paul’s TED Talk on raising brave girls and encouraging adventure, resonates with us at SpeechSkills for several reasons. We share Caroline's passion for empowering women to cultivate confidence and take on more leadership roles. We also firmly believe in the power of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone to build resilience and learn to trust yourself. And finally, Caroline points out something we say at all of our workshops: "fear and exhilaration feel very similar" — the shaky hands, the racing heart, the nervous tension-- if you start to frame your symptoms of nervousness as symptoms of excitement, you slowly but surely begin welcoming these kinds of experiences instead of resisting them. Caroline calls this type of behavior practicing your bravery-- turning your fear into a dare and going for it.

Check out Caroline's video and then ask yourself, how will you practice being brave today?