Six days · About five minutes a day
Doing It Afraid
Name one small brave thing, meet the fear in advance, and take it step by step.
Your six days
- Name the small thing — Free in your browser
- You arrive with your mind
- The contrary habit
- A rough young man
- A little is enough
- Be helped
A taste of Day 1: Name the small thing
Welcome. Courage isn't only for emergencies. Most of it is small: sending the message, saying the thing, starting. Over six days, we'll practise doing small things while a little afraid. Today, we name one.
To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.Confucius · Analects, 2.24
James Legge, 1861
Confucius makes courage sound ordinary: seeing what's right and doing it. Notice that it begins with seeing. Before we can act, we have to let ourselves clearly see the thing we've been avoiding. It's usually small: a conversation, a form, a phone call. We name it, and make it small enough to do.
Try the reflection
Ask yourself: what is one small thing I know I should do, and keep avoiding? Let the first answer come. Now make it smaller. Not the whole thing, just the first step, something that takes five minutes or less. Hold that step in mind and notice how your body reacts. You don't have to do it yet. Take two and a half minutes.
One question to take with you
What's the one small thing, in a few words?
Day 1 is free. Days 2–6 are planned for the iPhone app, coming soon. This is reflection, not medical advice.