courage or cowardice

This week I've been considering the meditations of Marcus Aurelius and watching Nick Keomahavong talking about his journey as a junior Buddhist monk. I find it both calming and inspiring to hear about their detachment from things outside of their control, acceptance of how the world is, and concentration on improving from within. Both Stoicism and Buddhism teach in their own way that it is only from knowing yourself and being true to your values and beliefs that you can make a positive difference in the world.

As a leftie, most of my views are today being targeted by one elite or another until they fall out of the Overton window. I used to be an active campaigner for many progressive social causes, and would have been called a Social Justice Warrior by many today. After many years of spending more hours in the day campaigning than I really should have been, I came to believe that I was unable to make a difference in the world. Over the course of three or four years I went from spending most of my evenings and weekends campaigning on the street and running a local political party, to giving up my political party membership and refusing to talk about politics to even those who have a similar political standpoint as my own. At times I worry I've become a coward, but I hope that I can exhibit courage by becoming a coach and writing about my journey.

One of the most accessible people talking about Stoicism at the moment is Ryan Holiday. In promotion of one of his books, Courage is Calling, he released a video of 8 Ways To Make Courage A Habit. I really like watching his YouTube videos; they’re high energy, make it easy to step a toe into Stoic philosophy, but stops short of giving any practical advice that you can build your own practices upon. I’ve recently started reading another one of his books and so far it doesn’t seem to have any further depth than his videos, which I have found disappointing. If you know of anyone worth reading on the topic of Stoicism (beyond the ancient Stoics themselves), please leave a recommendation in the comments.

In the video above he talks about committing to your values and doing the right thing. There are always things happening where a positive difference can be made. The scale doesn't have to be grand, you just need to be courageous enough to take some action. By deciding to make a difference and then following through with it you will make a difference to someone. You have to work hard in order to make your own luck, and create a majority (so that you aren't sitting in your group quietly watching as you're pushed out of the Overton window).

The follow through is the hard part. When one first starts any new thing one usually only has a small following and therefore the momentum is slow. Moving any new project forward takes time and requires will power to keep going when it could feel against the odds; as though shouting into the wind. There needs to be an intrinsic reason to keep going, something that one can take from the process that is reward enough. When one is aiming for something so big, one better enjoy the journey along the way.

Its been almost a decade now since I was actively involved in any campaigning, and there are times when I miss being such an active participant in democracy. I'll continue to use my agile coaching as a practice ground for my skills so that when the day comes that I'm ready to hit the streets and make a greater social impact again I'll be as ready as I can be.

This week I wrote Ten daily reflections for agile leaders over on WordPress.