Success Freaks

Helping Others be Awesome

SF #186 – It Takes Blood and Guts

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Whenever you are starting a new project, you need two things to be successful and, yup, you guessed it from the title – Blood and Guts.  Do you have the gumption, fortitude, and tenacity to push through your doubts and fears and press on to succeed at whatever goals you have envisioned for yourself?

This episode, Mordant & McFall ask the hard questions you need answers for in order to build your project correctly.  Tune in and hear their individual opinions on how important it is to have the blood and guts necessary to set off a positive revolution in your own life. [Read more…]

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Captains Courageous

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What is Courage?  What does it mean and what does it take to have courage?  I’ve heard it said, “Courage is a lie that old men tell to young men when they send them off to die.”  A clever maxim, yet I believe there is more to courage than that.  One of my favorite John Wayne quotes is:

“Courage is being scared to death…but saddling up anyways.”

If you believe what the late-great Duke said, Fear is an active ingredient in courage.  How can this be?  Isn’t courage the absence of fear?  Aren’t the bravest of the brave those without fear?  The correct answer here is…no.

Courage is not about feeling no fear at all—a double negative, yet true nonetheless.  You cannot have courage without fear.  Courage and bravery mean having fear while maintaining the ability to move forward in spite of your obstacles, real or imagined, and get the job done.  If you have no fear, then it doesn’t take any special fortitude.  Nothing out of the ordinary in the way of grit or guts to keep you on track for deeds of daring do.  You’re just doing your job—no problemo.  It is when you have fear and then combine it with the need to keep moving forward anyways—this is when courage comes into play.

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Success Via Adversity

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I was barely out of my teens over twenty years ago when I went to the New and Gauley Rivers in West Virginia to train to be a whitewater rafting guide. Women were really just breaking into the scene so the entire area was heavily dominated by men. This in itself wasn’t the least bit concerning since my desire to guide had nothing at all to do with the male to female ratio. What was concerning, as I soon came to find out, was the blatant sexism displayed by some male guides, trainers, and company owners. I selected one company out of a dozen to train with and throughout most of a year with them I endured being talked down to, sardonic attitudes, and never-ending attempts to make me fail. I was repeatedly put into situations to deliberately push me past my physical and psychological limits in the hopes that I would just give up; many trainees did, after all. This kind of adversity is what I faced spring, summer, and fall while training with “Company A”. But let me tell you the outcome.

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