Courage According To Harry Potter

(1) Prepare for the challenge.

Only the prepared are likely to prevail. Harry's first step is vital. Preparation creates both competence and confidence, and both of these attributes support courageous action. They are also crucial for success in any new and difficult endeavor.

(2) Surround yourself with support.

Hardly anything worth doing in this world can be accomplished alone. The support of others is crucial. When we carefully secure the assistance of other people, we greatly raise our chances of success in any difficult situation. This is Harry's second step.

(3) Engage in positive self-talk.

In facing any major challenge, we need to engage in a process of inner cheerleading for our own efforts, an extended enterprise of self-encouragement. We can then bring whatever optimism and faith we are able to muster in that way to the people around us who may be struggling as well. Any worthwhile fight with a chance of success requires an ongoing attitude of inner resilience and positive expectation. Since dealing with almost any difficulty can involve both bursts of progress and times of diminished returns, with even periods of slogging downhill now and then, it can help to remind ourselves - and each other - of these facts and use the inevitable universality of this general pattern to bolster our confidence in the process. Harry's third step of positive self-talk can pay dividends in every phase of the effort.

(4) Focus on what's at stake.

It's easy to become distracted and lose focus during any unusually tough time. Inertial forces will block the path forward and even pull us back. We'll experience unhelpful fear and unproductive ways of thinking, if we don't keep our focus on the values that are at stake in whatever challenge we face, and on the things that have to be done in order to honor those values. This is Harry's fourth step for launching change well.

(5) Take appropriate action.

Action need not wait on feeling. Most brave people say later that they never felt especially brave, but just did what had to be done. The only way we can ever respond productively to any great challenge is by taking some form of positive action. We have to roll the boulder a little farther as often as we can until it gains some momentum of its own. Harry's fifth step of taking action is in many ways the most important one of all.

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Personally, I agree with him because the books inspired me to find the courage to learn how to live without my mother after she died from cancer.