We Need Confidence and Courage
"The difference between courage and confidence is that confidence feels good; courage is doing what you're supposed to do despite the discomfort and the lack of confidence." - Benjamin Hardy
I was recently with a young leader. He's on the verge of a big life change. We got together to talk about how things are going. We dove into his plans, his strategy for starting this new venture well, and what he was feeling and thinking about it all.
As he talked, I noticed a concern start brewing in me. You know what I mean? Just a strange hesitancy. I wasn't sure what it was at first, because I loved what he was saying. He had a compelling vision. He knew his target. He was gathering a team. He had done his homework. And I didn't want to dissuade his passion or his thoughtful planning, but I couldn't shake this check in my spirit.
A few days later, I was reading a book one of my mentors had recommended: 10x Is Easier Than 2x. It's all about scaling for growth in healthy, life-giving ways. (You should check it out.) One of the principles in the book reframed exactly what I had been sensing in that conversation.
Before we begin a task, we develop confidence. We study, ask questions, make plans, and build strategy. But when it's time to start--and every day after--courage is what gets us through. You see, confidence is built on certainty. But life in general and leadership in particular is about stepping into the unknown and uncertain and unplanned. That's why Dan Allendar asks, Who would ever want to lead?
Confidence never gets us beyond the familiar. It takes courage to endure uncertainty.
Before Joshua could set out on his new venture, God wanted him to be rooted in courage. He wanted him to be grounded so that when the unexpected happened, he wouldn't give up. And so, at the outset of his story God tells him, "Be strong and courageous." He repeats this three times! And in God's final overture, he highlights the fundamental difference between confidence and courage: for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
We feel confident when we trust ourselves.
We become courageous when we trust God.
My friend has confidence in spades. Which is a very good thing; a necessary trait for the work he's about to do. But what I was sensing was that he was going to need courage, too. After all, real leadership and faith happen not when life runs according to our plans, but when our plans start running into life.
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The opening quote is from Dan Sullivan, featured in 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less (Hay House Business, 2023), co-authored with Dr. Benjamin Hardy.
Joshua 1:6-9. The Lord commands Joshua to "be strong and courageous" three times within this passage (vv. 6, 7, 9), and the people echo the charge in verse 18. The promise that "the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" appears in verse 9.
Dan B. Allender, founder of The Allender Center and author of Leading with a Limp: Turn Your Greatest Struggles into Your Greatest Strengths (WaterBrook, 2006). The line paraphrases his recurring teaching on the inherent cost and vulnerability of leadership.