Right Risk

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The subject of our last principle (fear) and the subject of this principle (courage) go hand-in-hand. Fear is the predecessor, and instigator, of courage. Indeed, because courage is a response to fear, you can’t demonstrate courage unless you are afraid. Though people falsely assume that courage is about being fearless, in reality the opposite is true. Courage is completely full of knee-knocking, teeth-chattering fear. So rather than walk with the cocksure swagger of John Wayne, courage shakes with the insecure awkwardness of Barney Fife.

The difference between a coward and a courageous person is not that one is afraid and the other isn’t. To be sure, both are afraid. Rather, the difference is in how each responds to fear. To be a coward ...