If you’re a regular to our articles you’ll know that we’re not fans of the inspirational quote in anything we do and so don’t worry the title of this article shouldn’t put you off – read on!
However earlier this week we came across an exception to our own rule and there are two perfectly good reasons why we believe that this quote should become ‘admissible evidence’ in our case.
Reason number one: This quote so perfectly matches the values we aspire to that it may as well be our mission statement.
Reason number two: It was said by the brilliant actor Alan Alda (or Captain Hawkeye Pierce from M*A*S*H) and that alone makes it easy to accept.
And this is what he said …
“Be brave enough to live life creatively”
Bravery is the cornerstone of our ideology and in reality, it should play a part in everyone’s life and business. Sure fearlessness comes with risks but that’s fine if they’re calculated because the rewards of brave and creative thinking can be rich indeed.
The question is, what is it that stops us from being courageous and what’s the link to risk? Well here at Brave rather than overthink things we’ve come up with a pretty simple formula to keep our concerns about risk in check…
If bravery > risk = positive action
If the worry of risk > bravery = negative inaction
So bravery + Creativity = Growth
The risk of failure stifles creativity and growth. Risk of failure stops you having fun and in turn risks, you never being able to show your face done the pub again!
But what if we all put risk was put to one side? Well, the simple answer is that we’d all suddenly become a bit happier and damn site more successful. We’d head off on a round-the-world backpacking trip, join a dating site or even pluck up the courage to speak at the next prestigious business event.
Fairly recently a national newspaper wrote an article about how people were overcoming fears and showing new signs of everyday bravery in the modern world. The top examples they gave were people that made the first move on a date, holidaymakers that went alone, selfie-takers that didn’t use a filter and even those commuters that asked other passengers to move down the train without the fear of verbal abuse.
But more depressingly, research from the same article also suggested that only 62% of people in the UK considered themselves to be brave in any way.