What Being Courageous Can Look Like on ANY Ordinary Day

What do Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Ghandi, Helen Keller, Victor Frankl, and Jesus Christ ALL have in common?

COURAGE

Now, if you are thinking, “well, I am no Jesus”, I get it!  BUT……many of the other amazing stories about people with courage throughout history weren’t Jesus either. They were just ordinary people who decided to be courageous.

I remember a time when I felt pretty courageous………..

I believe I just turned 20 years old.  I was making between $10-$12/hour and the minimum wage back then was $5.15/hr.  This wasn’t too shabby for someone who was still in college and lived in a smaller town.  I worked at a local hospital in the ER as a Registrar. I remember having a goal to make more money and deciding to apply for jobs where I could make more money.

After applying to a couple jobs, I got a call fairly quickly from a company where I would be doing sales.  I was told I had a draw of $4,000 a month so compared to what I was making, that was great! I had no doubt that I would be able to generate enough sales to get me commission well beyond that four thousand.  Now, I am not sure where that confidence had come from considering I had NEVER done sales in my life before.  But, I was naïve and confident – two things that go nicely together!

See, when you don’t know ALL THE FACTS or when you are young with minimum responsibilities, you don’t take forever to make a decision.  Ignorance is bliss, right?  RIGHT! 

I didn’t know enough back then to ask their turnover rate, the percentage of sales people that made quota every month, why they were hiring, OR to give it a second thought that during the interview, they didn’t ask me any questions about my background and spent the whole time “selling” me on why the job was great.

Now, I had been working at the hospital for two years and it wasn’t an easy job to get.  I had gotten the job because I had done my phlebotomy clinicals there and I made friends with the other Registrars.  So, this was a little scary for me to take the jump. 

With this new job, I would now be driving 45 minutes to get to work instead of 8 minutes.  My $4,000 a month draw was only guaranteed for four months.  After that, if you weren’t making 4k, you were fired!

So, did it take some courage for me to say yes?  Of course it did!

Do you think that EVERYONE around me thought I was crazy to take that job?  YES, they did!  They thought, why would I want to leave a stable position, with good health benefits, that was close to home, and paid decent wage for a 20-year-old just to take a chance at making more money?  That was crazy thinking to everyone around me.  Fortunately for me, I always thought a little outside my bubble and it has always served me well J

But…….I also took a leap of faith and trusted in myself instead of doing a pro/con list or looking at the facts.  The facts said they were desperate to hire, the job was further away, I had to pay tolls, I was only guaranteed a job for 4 months, and I had a daughter to support.

It was such a good thing that I ignored the facts, leaned into faith and put my courage vest on! 

Now, did I make BIG money and fall in love with my new job?  NOPE!

But, here is what I had the chance to experience by leaning into courage:

• I did make more money.
• I surrounded myself with people who thought BIGGER than I had been thinking.
• I met prospective clients who made more money than I thought imaginable only 45 minutes from the town I lived in.
• I made long-lasting friendships (still friends to this day).
• I had the idea to create something new to help people in that field- went on to get trained- came back to that company years later as a consultant to their clients and loved what I did!
• It was a semi-mentally abusive job where you were yelled at, put in very unethical positions, but I gained so much MENTAL and SPIRITUAL strength because of this.
• MUCH MORE!

We all want the guarantee in life.  We say that we will take a step IF……….or we will take action WHEN…….

I’m sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.  The safest option isn’t always the happiest one! 

I only stayed with that company for a little over a year, but it led me to my next step. I wouldn’t have gotten farther along in my career without taking that scary step.

What scary step could you take this year that would take you closer to living a life of greater joy and fulfillment?

HOW can you be more courageous NOW?

I would love to help you take that step – be more courageous- and support you in believing that you CAN do it!  If you are interested in setting up a FREE coaching session to explore what this can look like for you, email me at [email protected] or click here to schedule a time – if that feels scary, good- growth is supposed to!

Lots of love,

Erica Torres-Dudziak