I trust my gut, and then I use my brains to think up all the reasons why that’s the right thing to do.
My grandfather used to say: “Continents are not discovered in the harbor.” That means you have to venture away from safety in order to do something even moderately magnificent.
Still, sometimes I do find myself worrying and fretting and holding back even when holding back is the wrong thing to do. (Sometimes cautious prudence is the right thing—I can’t deny that.) Then I think of the words of my old babysitter, who said, “I’m jumping in the water while somebody else is just sticking her toe in. I make a lot of mistakes, but I also get to live a lot and have a lot of experiences.” She said that to me when I was not only not jumping, I wasn’t even sticking my toe in. I was hanging on the sides speculating about what the water was going to feel like. She pushed me, and I jumped, and I’ve never been sorry—even though that time it was a mistake!
Man, mistakes lend more color and texture to your life than half of the right things you do. What in the world is so terrible about making a mistake? Some of the greatest things I ever did (and the memories I treasure most) were mistakes by anybody’s measure.
Never mind about courage. Just hold your nose and jump before you think about it. If it isn’t going to kill you, you’ll be fine.