How 20 Seconds of Courage Can Transform Your Life
In the movie, “We Bought a Zoo,” Matt Damon plays a character names Benjamin Mee who says:
“You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”
Think about that. Just 20 seconds.
20 seconds to pick up the pen and write the first line of your book.
20 seconds to introduce yourself to someone.
20 seconds to sit down in front of the mic to record your new podcast.
… to share your art.
… to make that business offer.
… to make that phone call.
20 seconds to go for what you want.
But so many of us don’t open ourselves up to those 20 seconds of courage. We hold ourselves back from simply beginning. And when we hold ourselves back over and over, what happens?
It’s like an abandoning. We abandon ourselves whenever we hold ourselves back.
Cathy Heller, who is the podcast host of “The Cathy Heller Podcast,” works with women to help them elevate their lives and their capacity for receiving and allowing abundance. She’s a big believer in this idea that it takes just 20 seconds of courage to start something.
However, it’s not just courage. It’s also about being okay with being messy, with being a “B” student, with embracing imperfection. Because when we hold on to the idea of needing things to be perfect, we’re stuck and have a really hard time moving forward and taking action steps.
Cathy has asked the question, “Who did you want to be before you lost most of your courage?”
Think about that: when you were a kid, who did you want to be? Who did you want to be before family, friends, school, society told you who you should be? At what point did you, perhaps, lose confidence in your dreams?
Many of us choose comfort over courage, time and time again. But, did you know that Bronnie Ware, the author of “The Five Regrets of the Dying” heard from people as they were dying and two common regrets people had were:
I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
Those two regrets hit hard for me when I first heard them. What about you?
So, let’s think about this, me and you:
If you had 20 seconds of insane courage today, who would you be in a year? I’m talking insane courage.
Think about who you want to be or how you want your life to look like a year from today. Really take a moment for that vision. What’s one thing you want to manifest into your life? Just one thing.
Now, if you’re someone saying that you’re not sure you can visualize what you want, then think about how you would want to feel.
Do you want to feel free? Joyful? Connected? A boundary boss? Inspired?
We all know that a year from now will be here in a blink of an eye. And I think we’ve all had that experience at some point in our lives of saying to ourselves, “Where has all the time gone?” and even more heartbreaking, “What have I done with my time?”
So, if you had 20 seconds of insane courage, what would you do?
Got something? Good, then when you’re done listening to this episode, set your timer … 20 seconds … and let yourself experience those twenty seconds of embarrassing bravery. Cathy Heller has said, “Your confidence follows courage.” And as Matt Damon’s character said in the movie, “I promise you, something great will come of it.”
It may not be exactly what you were going for, but most likely, it’ll be something even better than you imagined. Even if all that comes of it is knowing that you’ve stepped outside of your comfort zone, and kept a promise and said yes to yourself … it’s worth it. You’re stepping into your future.
Oh, and one note: as I was originally putting this episode together, I decided to walk the walk right in the moment – and so I took 20 seconds to reach out to my hero Maria Shriver to have her on my podcast. I haven’t heard back yet … but that’s not even the point, is it? Point is: I went for it.
How about you? What will your future self look back on today and be grateful that you took 20 seconds of courage to support your life’s design?
Thanks for reading. Keep holding the light.
To listen to the podcast, click here.