Memory of That First Bus Step – First Courage

Nearing this series' close, let me speak of first courage. I once wrote of an executive's oldest memory: a young boy's first solo bus ride — the timetable peeled away, no certainty the bus would come or was the right one, no courage to ask, sweat on his nose. He stepped aboard anyway.

I will quote this story forever, because every challenge in life is a repetition of that first bus. My flight to Canada was a first bus in another form; so were founding the company, challenging for the listing, even starting this series. The timetable is always peeled off; no one guarantees the route. You sweat — and board anyway.

And once aboard, tension turns to excitement, in the same order as that boy's ride. What changes in adulthood is not the amount of courage, but the count of experiences of "board it, and it works out." To you, afraid of the first step: fear is normal. Only those who board anyway stop fearing the next bus.

What do you work for?