Gaining Courage

Gaining Courage...but how? Why?  Is it really going to help me at all?  You bet your best yak it will!  And you know what?  You don’t even need to go to Oz to get it.  We all go through ups and downs in our life.  There are moments when we feel like we can conquer anything and others where we feel bruised and battered.  Surprisingly for us fisherman, this sometimes gets us a little more when we have to take a skunkset picture.  Our best lure isn’t producing, things just kept going wrong, etc.  We lose our courage at times but we can get it back and have it stick with us longer if we follow the couple tips below.

1) Baby Steps.  Yep!  Take life at smaller chunks so that you can achieve them.  By breaking it down into bite size chunks you will have many successes behind you and will gain courage to go after your goals again!  

2) Be consistent!  This is one of the hardest things to do for most people.  But again, if you take baby steps you should be gaining the courage to be even more consistent.  Make a plan, put it on your to do list, write it in your calendar, whatever it takes just keep going and go after it.  The smaller chunks will help you be consistent and gain success!

3) “Fake it ‘till ya make it!” That’s right, fake your confidence!!  I actually tell my choir this quite a bit.  Why?  Because having confidence in yourself, in what you believe, and what you stand for will help you gain the courage to achieve what you want.  For us fisherman, sometimes we lose confidence in ourselves and baits that we use.  So you will have to dig deep and tell yourself you got it and hit the water again.  For me, I think of the other reasons I enjoy being on the water.  Being outside, enjoying the fresh air, look at the beautiful scenery, etc.  I enjoy other reasons to be outside.  But I don’t let it stop me.  I dig up the courage to head out again and fish again and catch fish.  I tell myself that “I’m going to catch a fish!” and leave with a positive attitude.  Even if I didn’t truly believe it, I faked it!  So I use other reasons to help me dig up the courage!