A Conversation About Courage and the Power of Positive Evolution
Last week Dusty Staub, author of The 7 Acts of Courage, sat down with Luc Goulet, MDA, to talk about the power of positive evolution and what it means to have the courage to be your best self.
Luc is an International Speaker, Peak Performance Coach, and Author of The Big Bang Project: Creating Humanities Best Case Scenario and Leverage Your Mind: The Next Phase in Self-Empowerment.
Find out more about Luc and The Big Bang Project: thebigbangproject.com
This is their conversation…
Dusty: Thank you so much for talking with me today Luc. Before we get started, would you tell our readers a bit about you and what you do for a living?
Luc: Thanks for having me, Dusty. I am an author, a speaker and Peak Performance Coach for athletes and businesses. Historically, I come from the retail business. My family and I created a business whereby, by the age of 33, I was able to be financially independent. Then I went into real estate and created a successful portfolio.
Now with that background, I have stepped into following my heart and that is helping others to realize the fullness of their potential and power. This has led me to what I do today.
Dusty: What is your relationship to Courage?
Luc: This goes back quite a ways. When I was young, I suffered from stuttering. It took courage for me to live with that, as there were bullies and people laughing at me and it was horribly painful.
However, at the age of fourteen my mom gave me a book on self-hypnosis. That book allowed me to tap into my unconscious mind and to free up my potential. In 90 days I cured the stuttering and actually began speaking to groups.
Courage was required for all of this. The courage to deal with my poor self-image and then the courage to dream that it could be better, which gave me the courage to learn and grow, to try out the self-hypnosis and to make a dramatic change.
Courage, for me, is a word with a lot of meaning. Courage means two things for me: heart (passion, openness) and balls (taking the key risks to act and to step out of the comfort zone).
I had to develop courage to be out in the world as people had made fun of me due to my stuttering. I have had to access and make use of courage so many times in my life–to get out of my comfort zone.
I’m French Canadian by birth. It took courage to go into the retail business and then to expand the business to move beyond the French-speaking market into the English-speaking one. I had to learn English even as I was training franchisees. That was both scary and yet also exhilarating. Without courage I would never have been able to do it.
To actually act on my passion and to write a book took courage-to overcome my self-doubt and fear. Also, stepping out into the consulting world as a Peak Performance coach required me to engage courage.
I still remember: it was June 12th, 2010 when it first came to me, while I was relaxing with a glass of wine in my hot tub. My kids were grown and out on their own. I was financially independent and had created two successful business ventures.
I was sitting there and the thought popped up, “What Now? What is my life purpose going forward?” I realized I wanted to help others to grow, to step beyond their self-limiting thoughts, beliefs, doubts and fears. From that day forward it has become a great new adventure for me. It took courage to step into a new arena, to coach as well as to write my first book in order to let others know of my vision of what is possible.
Dusty: You’ve written two books since then. Would you tell us a bit about them?
Luc: Absolutely. My first book was The Big Bang Project: Creating Humanities Best Case Scenario. I have learned some powerful tools over the years. The big bang for me is the image of how it all began.
I am now using this to talk about the positive energy that we can use to create great change, world transformation even. We need it desperately as there is a great wave of negativity in the world today. We are at the reset stage now and we have the opportunity to really make things better if we focus more on creating positive solutions versus being hypnotized by the problems.
This book is all about looking at how we as a species can best evolve. I have had great reviews on the book and as a business man I am looking at how to be the “leverage guy” and help all I come in contact with to step up their game.
My new book is Leverage Your Mind: The Next Phase in Self-Empowerment. It is all about the courage to take radical self-responsibility–to understand the extraordinary role we have and our capacity to be great agents for transformation in the world. This book is for the individuals who are ready to really step up.
There are four techniques I highlight and use in the book:
Visualization – to create a way of seeing yourself and then manifesting the desired reality.
Self-Hypnosis – to reprogram the sub-conscious mind where you can create a whole new reality that breaks through any limiting beliefs that are holding you back.
Meditation – Freeing up your mind to your inner intuition and grace – tuning into the great tuner of the Universe and moving to a higher vibration or energetic state of being.
Magnetism – the energy we emit and also receive from the world around us. Tapping into this power and making use of it with the guidance and support of the first three techniques.
I back all of these approaches up with specific tools and “tricks” you can use to leverage the four techniques and build on them. For example: music, dancing, singing, moving, etc.
Dusty: Where do you feel courage is most needed today?
Luc: I see three things that come to mind with regard to courage. The first is to embrace and celebrate diversity, coupling this with the humility to realize we need each other.
Next, gratitude: to change the vibration, the energy of our lives by embracing life and seeing the gifts abounding around us.
Finally, accountability: to stop pointing fingers and ask, “What can I do to make myself responsible for being part of the solution?”
To do this we have to step out of our comfort zone and develop curiosity to learn from each other and from the vast mystery of the Universe around us. We need to embrace those around us and let the best in each of us shine forth.
I think that historically we have all been “hacked’ with negative beliefs. Now we have the technology and means to “un-hack” ourselves – to get free and to realize our potential as co-creators in this world.
Dusty: Which Act of Courage Do You Feel Is Most Needed Today?
Luc: All of the Acts of Courage that you write about, Dusty, are so important. Of them all, the Courage to Let Go is huge and the most important.
Yet you can’t get there if you lack the Courage to Be Vulnerable and if you don’t access the Courage to Confront as well as the Courage to Act. If all of the other acts of courage are present, then we develop the Courage to Let Go.
I put it the following way: “To Know It – To Do It – To Be It.” This means to engage what I call the 3 R’s of a continuous improvement cycle: Recognize it – Reset it – Reinvent it. You would probably say it as: the Courage to See Current Reality – the Courage to Act – the Courage to Learn and Grow.
In fact, I believe that we have to always be willing to learn and grow if we as individuals, or as part of a business, are to thrive over time. The Courage to be Vulnerable part is what I call humility. After all, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. The same is true for a person, a team or an organization.
I agree with your TEDxTalk, that whichever Act of Courage you have least developed is your weakest link. I coach all of my clients that when they can get to the point of letting go because they have accessed the other Acts of Courage, that then they are in the zone for great transformation and even greater joy in living.
Dusty: How do you feel when you exercise courage, and how do your clients feel?
Luc: There are so many emotions related to this. I will tell you that when I have exercised courage that I feel grateful that I had the chance to take a challenge on. I feel passionate and also proud that I persevered and went through my fears. I feel larger and that I have grown in an important way. It reinforces for me that anything is possible.
When I coach others and they move beyond their fears I see people who begin to love who they are and they tell me they feel more authentic and whole. They stop focusing on their flaws and are more in tune with their positive energies. They learn to trust themselves and they develop more of the Courage to Let Go. I see them embracing their authenticity, tapping into their greatness.
Dusty: What is the best advice you can give to readers about living living with courage?
Luc: For anyone reading, I suggest writing down three columns on a sheet of paper.
The first column is Recognize: What do I need to recognize? Where do I need the courage to see current reality? This then allows you to tap into your heart and intuition.
The second column is Reset: Where do I need to get in touch with my inner truth? Where do I need the courage to be confronted, to learn and grow, to be vulnerable and open?
The third column is Reinvent: Where do I most need the courage to act and the courage to let go, to step into my heart, my life’s purpose?
After all, for every major decision that you make, you have to trust your heart more than your logic – Who to love? Who to let into your life? What you really want to go after? Remember, it all starts with your heart and your soul and then opening up to your vast inner being. I would say to start meditating and to step back and look at the bigger Mystery and Grace of life.
I want to end this with the recommendation for everyone to consider what I consider 5 passions to actively embrace toward a life of greater meaning, success and joy.
I want to invite everyone reading this to make the commitment to enjoy every moment, to find a way to embrace the energy of every emotion without getting lost in any of them. To feel the life force coursing through you even in fear; to turn that into the excitement of being alive and then to access the best Act of Courage to help you be your best self in that moment.
Luc Goulet can be contacted at [email protected]