I came across this quote in my journal this week, and it goes back about 2000 years…
Fortune favors the brave.
Publius Terence
I have heard derivative quotes and other cliches along the same line as this one. However, this one has grabbed me this week for some reason, and I thought it was worth sharing.
Too man of us are withholding our true potential due to some lack of courage or overabundance of fear. For some, the most frightening thing is to be themselves when they know that they are putting themselves at risk. It could be any variety of situations or relationships with others that are prompting you to be a little less than authentic.
I can tell you that bravery and courage when employed in a decidedly energetic manner – provides for more victories than losses. Talent of course has to play into things. A strong strategy, a strong team, and a commitment to persevere – all of these are critical ingredients to attracting good fortune.
More than all of those is the importance of your mindset. Mindset dominates many areas of life, and even if failure or partial setbacks (‘learning opportunities’) happen – the brave continue forward knowing that they will overcome and continue to advance.
Bravery definitely has a place.
Consistency does too. Daily consistency will win the day on most fronts in your life, and ‘doing the daily’ is an act of seemingly innocuous habit. Daily habits are not brave. They are typically mundane and boring.
This is where mediocrity takes hold as a mindset.
Those that attract, earn, and dominate with good fortune are those that are putting in the daily work and overcoming the ever present temptations that pull so many down to ‘mid range.’
Daily acts of moving forward – realizing your ‘true’ self – this is bravery. It is not a band of brothers type of thing, although the same idea of ‘doing what needed to be done at the given moment’ (that’s one from my upbringing) is hallmark of those that are the bravest among us.
So the next time you find yourself wondering what happened to your waistline or to that close friend that you have lost touch with – ask yourself this –
‘Was I consistently making the necessary choice? Am I brave enough to get after it now?’
Or here’s another one, and I think this is even harder…what if you are already experiencing success – yet you know you are not really doing your best at something…
‘Am I ready to push forward and pour a little bit more out to advance this?’
So many times – we get a taste of above average results for ourselves, and then we are unable to sustain the winnings. The true mark of ‘good fortune’ is sustained levels of relentlessness as you build out your life.
I cannot tell you how many times I have heard in the past year – ‘Well when I was X age, I was Y…’
You get the point.
We all backslide from time to time.
Own it.
The key is to get back up.
Make the brave choice for yourself.
And then keep doing that, consistently.
Fortune will find you…
What’s your brave choice as we head into the weekend?