The opposite for courage is not cowardice, it is conformity. Even a dead fish can go with the flow. Jim Hightower
Last year, as I was on the verge of releasing my paper The Conscious Marketing Revolution, I sought the wise counsel of my awesome sister Angela. I was extremely nervous that I was about to make a public declaration that the majority of marketing and advertising was complete BS and contributing to the destruction of humanity. I wasn’t sure I had the courage to state what I truly believed – after all I’d made a living for nearly 20 years from this profession.
Her advice? “Carolyn, dead fish go with the flow.”
It was all I needed to hear. There was nothing more unpalatable to me than being a dead fish and succumbing to conformity. Within 10 minutes of that conversation I’d sent the paper to my faithful followers. It was done and there was no turning back.
As a small business owner it’s hard to swim against the flow and stand up for what we believe in. We fear that we’ll be considered too left of field, too renegade, too opinionated. We fear that it will cost us our reputation, our clients and our future income. The dilemma is though, that we end up doing work we don’t love for people we don’t love. We lose the passion and are devoid of purpose. We end up being that dead fish.
So this blog, my last blog of the year, is dedicated to the free-thinkers and the change-makers, the ones that are courageous enough to declare what’s broken and who are doing something meaningful to fix it.
As we move into the holiday season, I hope you’ll find the time to rest and ponder on these questions. What would I do if I had the courage? How can I be that one fish that turns the whole school around?
Thank you very much friends for allowing me to pop into your in-box every couple of weeks this year. Your support, feedback and good wishes have carried me through the good times and the tough. My wish for you this festive season, is a good life – one that’s filled with love, peace and of course, courage.
Yours in courageousness
PS If you’d like to join me in un-tapping your courageous streak in 2014, I’d love for you to join me at two events in Melbourne:
Reinvent your Business – a full day public workshop that will show you a process you can adopt over 12 months to reinvent your business so that it’s meaningful, purposeful and profitable. Friday 31 January in Melbourne Click here.
Book launch: Unstuck in Provence…the courage to start over – the book I’ve finally found the courage to publish after three years is a very personal account of my time in Aix en Provence with my son Billy. Attend the Melbourne book launch on Wednesday 26 February and receive an autographed copy of the book Click here *
(If you’re unable to attend the launch but wish to place a pre-order for one of a number of limited autographed editions available 26 February (RRP of $29.95 + postage) email me.)
* If you’re struggling to find a brilliant Christmas present for that woman in your life that’s hard to buy for, this may just be the answer!