A few weeks ago I saw a preview for We Bought a Zoo. In it, Matt Damon’s character says something about only needing a few seconds of courage in order for great things to happen. The idea of that really stuck with me and I’ve found myself returning to it over and over. I couldn’t remember the exact line so I decided on 10 seconds. All I need is 10 seconds of courage and great things can happen. And it’s true. I think of things that scare me or make me nervous and the reality is that I just need to be brave enough to step into those things. To say yes to a request, to go up and speak to someone I don’t know, to tell someone that I’m writing a blog. It’s getting past the initial fear and that only takes a few seconds of bravery. Once you’ve said yes or taken that first step you are pretty much locked in and then it is just a matter of seeing what happens.
After talking about this idea with several people I decided to get online and watch the preview again. I was tired of guessing at the amount of time, thinking that maybe 10 seconds was a little long. Maybe he had said 5 seconds or even 3. So yesterday I watched the preview again. And the actual line is, “All you need is twenty seconds of insane courage and, I promise you, great things will happen.” What?! Twenty seconds! That’s almost the same amount of time my electric toothbrush wants me to spend on one small section of my teeth and that feels like an eternity. And not just twenty seconds of courage but twenty seconds of insane courage. No thanks! I think I will stick with my ten seconds of ordinary courage and settle for really good stuff happening. Baby steps, Matt. Baby steps.
photo by FlungingPictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/flungingpictures/4123440242/
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