The Courage Gap: 5 Steps to Braver Action
Margie Warrell
Berrett-Koehler Publishers (January 2024)
Here is a lifeline to personal growth and professional development
Long ago in Future Shock (1970), Alvin Toffler made this prediction: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
It takes courage to acknowledge one’s ignorance, to learn what one needs to know (especially the “unknown unknowns”), and to reject what is untrue, inadequate, obsolete. or flat-out false. It takes time and effort to complete the process to which Toffler refers. Also keep in mind that learning resembles a game in that it involves several different people (players, officials, and observers) and competition as well as rules, boundaries, time constraints, and a scoreboard.
In The Courage Gap, Margie Warrell recommends five steps that, once taken and completed successfully, can be your lifeline to personal growth and professional development:
1. Focus on what you want, not on what you fear.
2. Rescript what’s kept you scared or too safe
3. Breathe in courage
4. Step into discomfort
5. Find the treasure when you trip
She explains HOW.
My own take on each of these five steps:
1. Be “the little person that could.”
2. Shine a bright light on whatever seems dark and dangerous.
3. Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re probably right.”
4. Take the first step and you’re halfway to where you want to be.
5. Break eggs for omelets and squeeze lemons to make lemonade. Most “failures” are successes or necessary learning opportunities in disguise.
Margie Warrell provides an abundance of useful information, insights, and counsel in The Courage Gap. That said, if there is a gap between your aspirations and objectives — if you lack the self-confidence you need — don’t expect that reading the material in this book will be a magic wand, a wishing ring, or divine intervention that achieves that objective for you. No way.
Yoda was right.
The decision is yours: Either do it or don’t do it. There is no try.