All it takes is a few seconds of courage.

All it takes is a few seconds of courage. 

As Benjamin Mee puts it in We Bought a Zoo: “[s]ometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.” 

Too often, we are bullied by the belief that, because we aren't colored with courage in every moment, we don’t have it in us. But I’ve found that, in practice, all that stands between me and the establishment of a relationship with courage—the relationship I see reflected in those I admire—is whether I’m ready to act when those few seconds of courage cut through the clouds of doubt. 

Too often, we default to inaction because we feel like our stream of courage must be constant. But even the bravest among us tell tales of an overwhelming fear that characterizes the moments leading up to a flash of courage. And it’s what we do when that spark shows itself that sets us in the direction of courage or cowardice.  

Consider, for example, Flo Groberg, who noticed a suspicious local stumbling toward the delegation he was protecting. Reacting quickly, Flo tackled the man—who was wearing a suicide vest—putting his life on the line for the safety of others. In doing so, Flo displayed the kind of amazing bravery that wins one a Medal of Honor. Yet even still, such an act took, as his book title reveals, Eight Seconds of Courage.  

Now, undoubtedly, thousands of small decisions to display courage in the face of fear had trained Flo for that moment of insane bravery.  

But that’s my point. Start teaching yourself to capitalize on the few seconds of courage in the everyday and you train yourself to default to bravery when the stakes are higher.  

So let this be your reminder: as you think, today, about that message you want to send, that post you want to publish, that choice to speak up when you have something to say, or that decision to do the thing you think you cannot, know that all you need to do is call up a few seconds of courage. Then capitalize with action. 

Do that as often as you can.  

And maybe one day your heroes will be asking you where you’re from.