Courage isn’t a personality type. It’s a decision you make in the next five seconds.

Treating bravery as a personality trait means you either have it or you do not, which conveniently excuses you from ever testing the question. It is much smaller than that in practice: a short window where you either raise the hand or let it pass. Nobody hands out the label in advance. The brave people you know are just people with a better record inside those windows.

Watch for the next window as it opens, and count down from three before your head has time to build a reason. One window today is enough to start with.