Got Guts?

<h1>Got Guts?</h1>Author: <a title="Michelle Neujahr" href="http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/michelle-neujahr/169420.htm">Michelle Neujahr</a> “<a href="http://thinkexist.com/quotation/anybody_with_a_little_guts_and_the_desire_to/226804.html">Anybody with a little guts and the desire to apply himself can make it, he can make anything he wants to make of himself.</a>” Willie Shoemaker Recently someone told me I had guts. In fact they said I had more guts than anyone they knew. I’d never really thought about having guts before. This comment made me think about and question my life. I’ve asked myself repeatedly over the last few weeks if I have guts and if I do what does having guts mean. After mulling this topic over I have come up with my own definition of guts. To me having guts means being willing to do the uncomfortable. It means being willing to take risks. It means feeling fear and doing it anyways. To have guts is to have courage. The dictionary defines guts as courage, fortitude, nerve or audacity. To create lasting change in your life – you must have guts! You must have the courage to do what others will not do, the fortitude to stay the course, the nerve to make the move and the audacity to actually step out and do it. Do you have guts? As I’ve looked at my own life I’ve come up with seven areas of life that require having guts. I am sure there are many more but this list is a start. Values Do you have guts with your values? Are you willing to take a stand for them? Are you willing to follow your values even if it means you lose a deal or have to step aside? Having guts with your values means that you are willing to live your values - no matter what. One of my most important values is family. I value my family above all else. Yet am I willing to take a stand for them? Am I willing to give up things in my life in order to build my family? Am I willing to say no to working 60 hours a week? Am I willing to do whatever I need to do in order to keep my family number one? These are questions I must continually ask myself in regards to all my values. To have guts with my values means I am willing to live by them no matter what. Humility Are you willing to be humble? Are you willing to serve? Are you willing to not have the world revolve around you? I find it takes guts, especially in the world today, to be humble. It’s not in style to be humble. It isn’t even encouraged in most circles. Yet I believe humility is one of the keys to success. As a speaker, if I’m conceited and make the whole world revolve around me, I’ll be out of business very quickly. On the other hand if I’m humble, willing to serve others and have the ability to put my ego aside – I can and will make an impact. Honesty Do you have guts when it comes to honesty? Are you willing to be honest even if it‘s uncomfortable? Having guts with honesty means that you honestly deal with life on life’s terms. It means that you’re willing to be honest in all situations and at all costs. Honesty isn’t easy, it can be downright scary, but it’s crucial to our well being. Being honest takes guts. As a consultant I often must be honest when I’d rather not. To do my job I must honestly communicate to my clients both their strengths and their weaknesses. Often I have to say hard things to people who may or may not want to hear them. Being honest helps my clients grow. Physical Do you have the guts to push yourself physically? Do you work your body as well as your mind? Having guts with our physical activity is important. If I go to the gym without guts, I tend to have a mediocre workout. I tend to take the easy way through my workout. Yet if I go to the gym with guts – I push myself and end up having a great workout. Developing guts can often be easiest through physical activities. When we learn to push ourselves physically, we can transfer this skill to other areas of our lives. Emotional Do you have guts with your emotions? Are you willing to uncover your emotions, feel them and share them with safe people? Having guts emotionally can be hard. It’s often harder to have the courage to share our emotions than it is to take a stand for our values. When I am courageous and share my feelings openly and honestly with safe people – I grow. I believe the only way I can grow is to honestly deal with my emotional side. When I have the fortitude to follow through and take care of my emotions my life expands and then I’m able to tackle my dreams. Relationships Do you have the guts to be in relationships? Do you have the fortitude required to maintain and grow relationships with others? Relationships are hard work. It takes guts to enter into a relationship. And it takes even more guts to stay in one. Relationships require guts in all areas – physical, emotional and spiritual. As a married woman, I’ve worked very hard to build and maintain a relationship with my husband. Its taken courage beyond anything I ever imagined. Being married requires that I continually grow as an individual and have the courage to be the kind of person I committed to be when I first married my husband.  Business Practices Do you have guts with your work? Are you willing to shine? Are you willing to do what you know you need to do? Do you have the courage and the audacity to be great? Having guts at work can mean many things. It can mean you no longer settle for second best. It can mean you speak your truth. It can mean you encourage someone or give tough feedback. It can mean you leave a position that isn’t a good fit. The bottom line is that having guts at work is a daily choice. You must be willing to have guts in all areas in order to be successful in your career. Having guts at work requires going above and beyond, doing what others will not and doing it over and over again. One of the best ways to get ahead at work is to have GUTS! As a business owner I need guts every day. I need guts to make cold calls. I need guts to get up and speak in front of large groups. And I need guts to deal with disappointments when they come my way. I am challenged every day to have guts. To stay in business I must have the courage to grow, the fortitude to stay the course, the nerve to ask for the sale and the audacity to get up in front of a room and shine. Take time to think about your personal level of courage, fortitude, nerve and audacity this week. Ask yourself if you have guts. Ask yourself where you need more guts.  About the Author: Michelle Neujahr, Motivational Speaker & Small Business Consultant
Michelle Neujahr provides motivational keynotes, in-house training seminars and small business consulting services to organizations ready to take their business to the next level. She delivers high energy, dynamic presentations guaranteed to reinvigorate your organization and revive your people. With more than a decade of experience as a motivational speaker, Michelle has given over 1,000 presentations to audiences across the country. In addition Michelle has owned three businesses, worked in the corporate world as Director of Sales & Marketing, is an author and serves as an adjunct business professor.

Companies hire Michelle, time and again, to entertain, educate and motivate while creating a positive, energetic tone at any conference or event. Some of Michelle’s clients include: 3M, Wells Fargo, Medtronic, St. Paul Children’s Hospital, and Carlson Companies.Article Source: <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/">ArticlesBase.com</a> - <a href="http://www.articlesbase.com/self-improvement-articles/got-guts-1136885.html" title="Got Guts?">Got Guts?</a>

“Anybody with a little guts and the desire to apply himself can make it, he can make anything he wants to make of himself.” Willie Shoemaker

Recently someone told me I had guts. In fact they said I had more guts than anyone they knew. I’d never really thought about having guts before. This comment made me think about and question my life. I’ve asked myself repeatedly over the last few weeks if I have guts and if I do what does having guts mean.

After mulling this topic over I have come up with my own definition of guts. To me having guts means being willing to do the uncomfortable. It means being willing to take risks. It means feeling fear and doing it anyways. To have guts is to have courage. The dictionary defines guts as courage, fortitude, nerve or audacity.

To create lasting change in your life – you must have guts! You must have the courage to do what others will not do, the fortitude to stay the course, the nerve to make the move and the audacity to actually step out and do it. Do you have guts?

As I’ve looked at my own life I’ve come up with seven areas of life that require having guts. I am sure there are many more but this list is a start.

Values
Do you have guts with your values? Are you willing to take a stand for them? Are you willing to follow your values even if it means you lose a deal or have to step aside? Having guts with your values means that you are willing to live your values - no matter what.

One of my most important values is family. I value my family above all else. Yet am I willing to take a stand for them? Am I willing to give up things in my life in order to build my family? Am I willing to say no to working 60 hours a week? Am I willing to do whatever I need to do in order to keep my family number one? These are questions I must continually ask myself in regards to all my values. To have guts with my values means I am willing to live by them no matter what.

Humility
Are you willing to be humble? Are you willing to serve? Are you willing to not have the world revolve around you? I find it takes guts, especially in the world today, to be humble. It’s not in style to be humble. It isn’t even encouraged in most circles. Yet I believe humility is one of the keys to success.

As a speaker, if I’m conceited and make the whole world revolve around me, I’ll be out of business very quickly. On the other hand if I’m humble, willing to serve others and have the ability to put my ego aside – I can and will make an impact.

Honesty
Do you have guts when it comes to honesty? Are you willing to be honest even if it‘s uncomfortable? Having guts with honesty means that you honestly deal with life on life’s terms. It means that you’re willing to be honest in all situations and at all costs. Honesty isn’t easy, it can be downright scary, but it’s crucial to our well being. Being honest takes guts.

As a consultant I often must be honest when I’d rather not. To do my job I must honestly communicate to my clients both their strengths and their weaknesses. Often I have to say hard things to people who may or may not want to hear them. Being honest helps my clients grow.

Physical
Do you have the guts to push yourself physically? Do you work your body as well as your mind? Having guts with our physical activity is important. If I go to the gym without guts, I tend to have a mediocre workout. I tend to take the easy way through my workout. Yet if I go to the gym with guts – I push myself and end up having a great workout. Developing guts can often be easiest through physical activities. When we learn to push ourselves physically, we can transfer this skill to other areas of our lives.

Emotional
Do you have guts with your emotions? Are you willing to uncover your emotions, feel them and share them with safe people? Having guts emotionally can be hard. It’s often harder to have the courage to share our emotions than it is to take a stand for our values.

When I am courageous and share my feelings openly and honestly with safe people – I grow. I believe the only way I can grow is to honestly deal with my emotional side. When I have the fortitude to follow through and take care of my emotions my life expands and then I’m able to tackle my dreams.

Relationships
Do you have the guts to be in relationships? Do you have the fortitude required to maintain and grow relationships with others? Relationships are hard work. It takes guts to enter into a relationship. And it takes even more guts to stay in one. Relationships require guts in all areas – physical, emotional and spiritual.

As a married woman, I’ve worked very hard to build and maintain a relationship with my husband. Its taken courage beyond anything I ever imagined. Being married requires that I continually grow as an individual and have the courage to be the kind of person I committed to be when I first married my husband.

Business Practices
Do you have guts with your work? Are you willing to shine? Are you willing to do what you know you need to do? Do you have the courage and the audacity to be great? Having guts at work can mean many things. It can mean you no longer settle for second best. It can mean you speak your truth. It can mean you encourage someone or give tough feedback. It can mean you leave a position that isn’t a good fit. The bottom line is that having guts at work is a daily choice. You must be willing to have guts in all areas in order to be successful in your career. Having guts at work requires going above and beyond, doing what others will not and doing it over and over again. One of the best ways to get ahead at work is to have GUTS!

As a business owner I need guts every day. I need guts to make cold calls. I need guts to get up and speak in front of large groups. And I need guts to deal with disappointments when they come my way. I am challenged every day to have guts. To stay in business I must have the courage to grow, the fortitude to stay the course, the nerve to ask for the sale and the audacity to get up in front of a room and shine.

Take time to think about your personal level of courage, fortitude, nerve and audacity this week. Ask yourself if you have guts. Ask yourself where you need more guts.

Michelle Neujahr, Motivational Speaker & Small Business Consultant Michelle Neujahr provides motivational keynotes, in-house training seminars and small business consulting services to organizations ready to take their business to the next level. She delivers high energy, dynamic presentations guaranteed to reinvigorate your organization and revive your people. With more than a decade of experience as a motivational speaker, Michelle has given over 1,000 presentations to audiences across the country. In addition Michelle has owned three businesses, worked in the corporate world as Director of Sales & Marketing, is an author and serves as an adjunct business professor. Companies hire Michelle, time and again, to entertain, educate and motivate while creating a positive, energetic tone at any conference or event. Some of Michelle’s clients include: 3M, Wells Fargo, Medtronic, St. Paul Children’s Hospital, and Carlson Companies.

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Article Tags: self help, risk, motivation, personal development

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