8 Simple Habits To Help Strengthen Your ‘Bravery Muscle’
Did you know the part of the brain responsible for willpower can be strengthened like a muscle?
If you were to train this muscle properly, you could develop the bravery needed to achieve of all of your goals.
You could approach that woman you’re attracted to, stand up for yourself in any social situation or dive headfirst into whatever adventure took your fancy.
What’s more, you could do so almost effortlessly.
This is reality for people with a strong prefrontal cortex, and it could be reality for you. It’s easier than building 18-inch biceps and far more beneficial.
Read on for eight simple habits that will help strengthen this part of your brain, transforming you from frightened pussycat to fearless superhero.
1. Get important things done early in the morning
Willpower depletes throughout the day. Just like your arms will perform a finite amount of reps on the bench-press, your brain can only make so many ‘brave’ choices before it caves in. Eventually, it’ll fatigue and favour an easier, more immediately gratifying decision.
With this in mind, it’s best to plan important activities early in the morning, before other stressful decisions wear out your willpower.
You’re less likely to skip the gym if you get there before work. You won’t put off that important phone call if you make it as soon as your enter the office.
Also, you won’t have to spend the entire day worrying about it. This itself can eat into your willpower reserves.
2. Don’t sweat the small stuff
By removing unnecessary stressful decisions from your day, you can remain at your best in situations that require true bravery.
If possible, avoid commutes where you have to navigate heavy traffic or crowded train carriages. When a colleague brings cupcakes to work, have them moved so don’t have to actively resist them. Even the smallest of stressful decisions add up.
Mark Zuckerburg even wears the same outfit every day to eliminate the stress of choosing what to wear.
3. Get plenty of sleep
Your muscles won’t perform to their true capability if they’ve not had time to recover during sleep.
The prefrontal cortex is no different. It’ll give in to the easier option with far less resistance when you’re underslept.
This is why you’re way more likely to eat junk food after a bad night’s sleep (or after a stressful day).
Try and get at least 6.5 hours sleep to be at your happiest and most productive.
4. Eat smart
The Ultramind Solution by Mark Hyman is an incredible book about how your diet affects your mental health. Read this book and follow the recommendations.
At the very least, cut out all sugars. That includes the ‘stealth sugar’ high-fructose corn syrup.
5. Warm up
If you’re about to deliver a public speech, prepare by speaking to a couple of strangers.
If you’re about to call a woman to ask her out, limber up by laughing with your friends on the phone.
If you’re about to compete in a cage fight, let your coach slap you around a bit first.
Warming up makes the scary deed itself much easier.
6. Focus on the point of no return
Whatever activity you’re about to engage in, there’s no point in stressing about anything other than your first move.
In most instances, you have no way of figuring out what’s going to happen afterwards. There are too many variables at play.
So, instead of worrying about ‘what ifs’, get started.
If you see an attractive woman you want to speak to, just concentrate on saying ‘hi’. Anyone can say ‘hi’.
If you’re in a helicopter tied to a skydive instructor, concentrate on shuffling towards the door. Any adult can shuffle awkwardly on their bum, even with a fully-grown man and a parachute tied to them.
Just get to the point of no return and trust your brain to get you through the rest. Thinking any further ahead is pointless, and can overwhelm you out of doing anything at all.
7. Meditate
Meditation trains you to escape your emotions and focus on the present moment, whereas anxiety is a emotion that lives exclusively in the future.
By practicing meditation, you can therefore eliminate fear from your life almost entirely.
Many guests on my What Are You Afraid Of? podcast have explained how meditation helps them stay grounded in the most intimidating situations.
There are dozens of ways to do it, but I’ve had great success using Headspace.
8. Just do the damn thing
Our brain’s primary function is to keep us alive. It cares about nothing else nearly as much as this.
For this reason, we will always feel some fear in unknown situations.
Our brain will always come up with excuses why we should stay in our comfort zones, even if physical danger appears logically minimal.
Ultimately, the best way to overcome fear is to just do the damn thing before our brain even has time to talk you out of it.
Mel Robbins’ book The 5 Second Rule explains how this habit changed her entire life.
