Our series on Brené Brown is available on the Moonshots Podcast.
We spent weeks studying courage and resilience with author Brené Brown - a leading expert in leadership, and the author of five #1 NY Times bestselling books - and distilled three of her books into three top tips to help unlock your inner courage.
Following these tips will help you be the leader that’s already inside of you, and not be so afraid of what others think.
(1) Follow the ‘cultivate/let-go’ guideposts
In ‘The Gifts of Imperfection’, Brené lays out what she calls her ‘10 guideposts’ made up of what to let go of, in exchange for something to cultivate. These two considerations work hand-in-hand because without creating positivity you can’t move forward, and without releasing that weight, your progress will be slow.
- Cultivate Authenticity by Letting Go of What Other People Think
- Cultivate Self-Compassion by Letting Go of Perfectionism
- Cultivate Your Resilient Spirit by Letting Go of Numbing and Powerlessness
- Cultivate Gratitude and Joy by Letting go of Scarcity and Fear of the Dark
- Cultivate Intuition and Trusting Faith by Letting Go of the Need for Certainty
- Cultivate Creativity by Letting Go of Comparison
- Cultivate Play and Rest by Letting Go of Exhaustion as a Status Symbol and Productivity as Self-Worth
- Cultivate Calm and Stillness by Letting Go of Anxiety as a Lifestyle
- Cultivate Meaningful Work by Letting Go of Self-Doubt and Supposed-To
- Cultivate Laughter, Song, and Dance by Letting Go of Cool and Always in Control
(2) Practice only what matters
In ‘Daring Greatly’, Brené uncovers an approach to transform the way people Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. Within the book, Brené suggests that there is nothing as hurtful as standing on the outside - whether it’s our lives, creative decisions, family challenges or business meetings - and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step inside the ‘arena’ of life.
Here is a small selection of behaviours that inspire change, and can be applied within your business and career:
- Practice authenticity
- Practice shame resilience
- Practice courage
- Practice wholeheartedness
- Practice self-love
- Practice being devastated
- Practice gratitude
- Practice self-compassion
- Practice mindfulness
(3) Belong to yourself, before others
The third book we covered was ‘Braving The Wilderness’, which teaches that truly ‘belonging’ is becoming more difficult due to the increasing disconnection in our lives; we need to believe and stand for an idea first.
Brené shows us how to unlock clarity and courage by helping us find our way back to ourselves. This starts by absorbing a few simple mantras to believe in and repeat:
- I will find it easier to ‘let me be me’, once I stop trying so hard to fit in
- By trusting myself - and learning to trust others - I can find the courage to be myself
- If I can turn anger into a positive, it won’t be something that causes upset inside me
Each of Brené’s books can help us to grow, learn and adjust to an ever-changing world of family, anxiety, business, busy-ness, people and outside sources that can sometimes feel too much.
By approaching dealings in our lives with authenticity, bravery, trust, and vulnerability ever-present, we can be closer to achieving a greater sense of ourselves. These are just three insights from Brené’s books that we uncovered which can constructively transform the way we all live and work.