Courage

During a discussion last week, we chanced upon talking about successful people. As is our wont, a theoretical argument ensued on what makes a person successful.

The first hypo obviously was intelligence. The person has to be smart. He needs to have brains. He needs to be able to spot opportunities.

The second one was luck. Even if a person is smart, has brains and is able to spot opportunities, he should be in a position where opportunities present themselves. Too many smart people never get to demonstrate their smarts because they have no luck!

Then there were many - lineage, hard work, peer group, pedigree etc.

The one that most appealed to me was courage. The smartest, luckiest and richest people won't amount to much if they lacked the courage to utilize their intelligence, leverage their opportunities and invest their wealth (mental and mercantile)

Courage is sometimes called risk taking. Whatever name you might give this quality, I feel that without courage, its hard to succeed.

A wide sweep across the human horizon would reveal that the happiest people had the courage to follow their conviction. They don't lay much store by peer approval. They don't try to live their parents' dreams. They do not forsake their current happiness for a future manna.

Courage is uncomfortable. Courage is disruptive. Courage is risky. But Courage keeps the 'if onlys' at bay. Courage helps you 'enjoy the journey'. Courage allows you to sleep with a smile on your lips..............

Having the courage to take the plunge separates the explorers from the squatters

ps: note that I have equated success with happiness because there is no better measure of success in my view.
pps: just want to acknowledge the person who brought up courage as a factor -thanks!