3 Easy Habits To Make You More Courageous
Jul 14, 2025
Do you think you have the kind of courage it takes to charge on a galloping horse, lance held high, ready to joust another knight with hundreds of people watching?
Running a business sometimes feels like that. And for a lot of entrepreneurs, the answer is probably ‘no.”
If you’re thinking, I could never have that kind of courage, then answer these three questions.
Do your eyes work? Do your ears work? Does your heart work?
If you answered YES, then you can build more courage inside of you than you realize. And the good news is that you still won’t have to enter a jousting tournament.
Here are 3 habits to start integrating into your entrepreneurial adventure based on courage lessons from the movie A Knight’s Tale.
Habit 1: Keep Your Eyes Open
While a spectator was describing William during a joust, they gave him an extreme compliment, although they didn’t intend it to be.
"He has a rudimentary style. He's fearless. He keeps his eye on the target." A Knight’s Tale
The rest of the knights would close their eyes before they made contact for fear that they would have something get into their eyes or their face. He kept his eyes open the entire time and showed his fearlessness by the way he was jousting.
Challenge #10 is to ask yourself, “Where are you closing your eyes in your business? Where are you showing fear in your business, and letting that fear run the show?”
And be honest.
Are you not contacting the right person out of fear?
Are you not talking to someone that you need on the team out of fear?
When you avoid doing something important, you’re letting fear run the show. By making it a habit to keep your eyes open in your business, you can be sure you’ll build courage by always doing the important things that need doing.
A practical example of courageous entrepreneurship is being living proof. You need to show your team, your clients, or your audience that you are prepared to do the things that you’re asking them to do.
Part of being living proof is showing everyone your true self. Being honest about the struggles and the lessons you’ve learned, and being transparent about how you got to where you are.
“If we are afraid to be our true selves, we’re closing our eyes because we are acting out of fear.” Jill Olish
Courage Challenge #11 - What are you courageous enough to be living proof of in your business?
Don’t let fear make you close your eyes in your business, so that you’re running your business blind, and avoiding doing what’s important. Keep your eyes open.
It will build courage in you and will help you to be living proof for those around you.
Habit 2: Listen Up
There’s a scene where William chases down the princess, trying to meet her and win her heart. But she doesn’t seem interested, and her friend asks her about it.
"He wants to speak to me, but doesn't want to hear what I say." A Knight’s Tale
As an entrepreneur, you are providing a solution to someone’s problem. You have to listen carefully to determine what they’re asking for before attempting to sell your service or product.
Challenge #12 is to ask yourself, “Where are you not listening in your business?”
It takes courage for you to ask that question because it means slowing down and admitting that you might not be able to come up with the solution all on your own.
But when you’ve listened well, you can be confident about what you’re bringing to the table.
Habit 3: Believe You Can Do Anything
One of the most meaningful scenes of A Knight’s Tale is a flashback to William as a boy. He’s watching the knights parading through the streets, and this conversation he has with his father sets the course for his whole life.
"Someday I'll be a knight. Can a man change his stars?" Little William asks his dad. "Yes. If a man believes enough, he can do anything.”
For a lot of people, entrepreneurship is a way of changing your stars. It’s embarking on a new life course that is different from what you’ve seen around you as you grew up.
You need to really believe from the bottom of your heart that you can do anything.
The sad thing is that not everyone has someone who believes in them enough to say that to them.
“Even though I may not have some people in my corner telling me I can change my stars, I've found a community of other entrepreneurs who do say that. So it may not always be the people that you think it's supposed to be.” Jill Olish
Challenge #13 is to identify what it is you're having a hard time believing because no one else is telling you you can do it. That’s where you need to have the courage to start believing in yourself.
“Courage is a major part of being a business owner. You have to have courage to get into the arena of doing business.” Kim White
If you want to build courage on the entrepreneurial adventure, you need to activate your eyes, your ears, and your heart (the brain plays a crucial role in all of these too, so let’s not leave that out).
If you missed the conversation about this between Kim and Jill on their podcast Buckets and Boom Gates, you can catch it here.
Our Groundwork Brigade is a home for entrepreneurs who want to build a business that they own and that doesn't own them. It’s a community of like-minded entrepreneurs finding freedom in the entrepreneurial adventure by practicing putting the right things in the right order.
It’s a safe space to learn how to build a relational business using irresistible marketing strategies, tailored to your individual needs, in a group setting, with lots of accountability and support.
To connect and find out more about Kim or how to create a sexy business for a sexy life, you can reach her and the My Sexy Business Team at www.mysexybusiness.com.
And to connect with Jill Olish go straight to her website www.mamaoutspoken.com and you’ll find her there!
