“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit.”
-Will Durant

Last week I came across a post that really resonated with me. It was from Brad Stulberg, author of the book The Way of Excellence.

As I went through it I kept noticing the same thing: almost every lesson about excellence is really a lesson about courage wearing different clothes.

I pulled out the 15 where fear shows up most clearly and added a quick note on the kind of courage each one asks of you.

#2. Do the hard things that align with your values. (Physical and emotional courage)
Every hard thing you do on purpose is a deposit into your bank of self-trust, and that bank is what you draw from the next time fear shows up. You don't wait to feel brave before you act; you act, and the bravery shows up afterward as proof.

#3. Just get started. (Emotional courage)
Fear loves to convince you that you need more clarity, more confidence, or a better mood before you begin. The feeling you're waiting for usually lives on the other side of the first step, which means the only way to get it is to move without it.

#4. Stay patient in the dark stretches, and ask for help. (Emotional and social courage)
Asking for help often takes more courage than grinding through alone, because it means letting someone see you when you're not at your best. The ego wants to look like it has everything handled, but the brave move is admitting you don't.

#7. Nonchalance is a cop-out. (Emotional courage)
Acting like you don't care is armor against failure, since you can't really lose at something you never really tried at. Trying hard where people can see it is one of the most vulnerable things you can do, and it's also the only way to find out what you're capable of.

#9. Finish what you start. (Emotional courage)
Starting is exciting, but finishing is scary because a finished thing can be judged, while an unfinished one gets to stay a someday masterpiece forever. Following through takes the courage to let your work be seen for what it actually is.

#10. Confidence comes from evidence. (Emotional and physical courage)
Courage and confidence aren't the same thing, because courage is what you need before you have the evidence and confidence is what you earn after. If you haven’t yet created a S.O.U.P. list, you should.

#11. Don't gamble your self-worth in an existential casino. (Social courage)
It takes courage to share the idea, or chase the goal without letting the likes decide whether you were right to do it. When your worth isn't on the table, you can afford to take much bigger swings.

#12. Build an identity house with more than one room. (Emotional and spiritual courage)
When your whole identity lives in one room, every risk inside it feels like a threat to your existence, so you quietly stop taking risks. More rooms means a failure costs you a setback instead of your sense of self, and that freedom is what lets you be bold.

#13. Get good at something real. (Social courage and ego)
Nobody gets good at anything without first being publicly and awkwardly bad at it. The courage here is letting your ego sit in the beginner's seat long enough for competence to show up.

#14. Stop comparing your first draft to someone else's final. (Emotional courage)
Comparison is one of fear's favorite disguises, because it hands you a reason to quit before anyone else gets the chance to judge you. The brave thing is to keep your draft in the game long enough for it to become a final.

#17. You are your surroundings. (Social courage)
Changing your environment often means changing who you spend your time with, and that can mean hard conversations, disappointed people, and walking away from comfortable relationships that are holding you back. Protecting your goals sometimes requires the courage to be the one who leaves the room.

#19. Adapt, and let go of what stops serving you. (Intellectual courage and willingness to be wrong)
Holding onto a routine, a tool, or a belief after it stops working is usually your ego protecting the version of you who chose it. Letting go takes the courage to admit you've outgrown something, or that you were wrong about it in the first place.

#20. Failure is inevitable, so process it and get back to work. (Emotional courage)
The courage isn't in avoiding failure; it's in feeling the full weight of it and then choosing to walk back into the arena anyway. Give the disappointment its time, but don't let it move in.

#23. You don't have to believe everything you think. (Intellectual and spiritual courage)
Most of our fears are thoughts we've mistaken for facts, and courage often starts with simply questioning the story your mind is telling you. You don't have to silence the fear in order to act; you just have to stop obeying it.

#24. Stop trying to be perfect. (Emotional courage and ego)
Perfectionism is fear dressed up as high standards, because as long as the thing isn't perfect, you have a built-in excuse not to ship it. Showing up as a real human with real flaws is far braver than hiding behind a finish line that never arrives.

Hopefully some of these resonate with you as much as they did for me.

If you want the full list, you can read the original post here.

Here's your reflection for the week:

What’s ONE area of life that you want to be excellent in? What role is fear playing in preventing you from achieving it?

Share something that isn’t “ready” yet. The social media post. The email. The conversation. Give yourself permission to just ship it.

With courage,

Jonathan