So there I was, standing on the edge of a 216 meter high bridge in South Africa. And ever since booking the trip, I had been mentally preparing and looking forward to that exact moment. Hey, it's Luca and welcome to the Luca Savati podcast. Now, this was a little while ago, but I still remember every detail, every feeling very vividly, like lifting my head up, opening my arms to the sky, taking a deep breath, and a smile slowly appearing on my face. And then I jumped. Everything turned silent. No inner voices, no self-doubt, just the sound of the wind blowing past my ears and this incredible, amazing sense of freedom. And the seconds between being pulled back up and dropping down again felt like these magical moments where time stood still. And it was like I was just floating there long enough to soak in the view, hear the sounds of nature and the birds chirping. And it wasn't until the end of the experience while I was still dangling up and down that thoughts started to come back. And I could hear the voices of people calling me crazy for doing this, questioning, you know, what was wrong with me or what if this was a huge mistake. And at the same time, my own inner voice started to say how cool I was. And I'm not trying to convince you to go bungee jumping. I mean, if it's not for you, don't do it. But this mattered to me. I didn't jump because I needed to prove anything to anyone. I jumped because it meant facing my own fears, expanding my own boundaries, and that mattered to me. So, this conversation is not about bungee jumping. It's about life and the situations where we hesitate, where we feel stuck or overthink. It's about ideas you have, career moves, conversations, and those small things that you care about deeply, but that you often don't take action on because something inside you is pulling you in different directions. So, why do some people move despite fear while others freeze? And why do we sometimes take a decision, stand fully behind it, but then when doubt creeps in, we question if we made the right choice. And I mean, I have plenty of examples where I decided to do something and then I didn't follow through because fear took over. And so I stayed stuck there for a while. And the more I started paying attention to those moments both in you know in life in work but also in conversations the more I realized that there are always two forces present. So by the end of this conversation you'll know what two forces I'm talking about and how they interact. And you'll also be able to look at where you are right now in life, in work, and how these two forces might be shaping your next step. So let's start with the first one, fear. And fear can be very literal like a fear of flying, fear of spiders, fear of heights. But it can also be something less visible like fear of uncertainty, fear of change, fear of trying something new. And we often treat fear like it's the enemy, like it's, you know, something that we need to get rid of. But fear is information because from a biological point of view, fear is the way that our system is trying to keep us safe. And if we go back like long before we had jobs and deadlines and career choices, our brain had one main responsibility, keeping us alive. And one of the parts of the brain that is responsible for that is called the amygdala. It's a threat detector. And it's constantly scanning your environment and asking one simple question. Is this safe? And the moment that something feels uncertain, unfamiliar, or risky, that system activates. And so your body responds. It's becoming more alert. It releases hormones to keep you sharp. It focuses, narrows the attention. It starts generating questions like, "What if this goes wrong? Uh, what if this backfires? What if I regret this later? So, from the brain's perspective, this all makes perfect sense. It's not trying to ruin your life. It's trying to keep you safe. The thing is that what once helped us survive in dangerous environments now also activates in everyday situations. like when we are about to send an important email or start a new project or change careers or say something honest in a conversation. The interesting thing is that from the body's perspective, fear and excitement can look very similar. Your heart rate will go up, your breathing changes, your body becomes more alert. And so standing on that bridge in South Africa, my body probably didn't know whether I was going to do something dangerous or something exciting. It were my thoughts about what I was going to do that got me to jump. And so this brings me to the second force, drive. This is what moves us. It's the energy that pushes us to act. But not all drive is the same. Sometimes drive comes from fear. This is the drive to move away from things, from things that we want to avoid, from discomfort, failure, from negative consequences. It can sound like I keep going because I don't want to look weak. or if I say no, people will think I'm selfish. This kind of drive can be powerful. It can push us to act, but it usually also amplifies fear. So, what we're looking for is a different kind of drive. It's a drive that moves us toward something that matters to us. It's a drive guided by a meaningful why. And once you find that drive, something interesting will happen. It doesn't eliminate fear. It doesn't even lower it. But the drive towards something that matters to you becomes stronger than the fear. So what does this look like in real life? First, let's go back to that moment on the bridge in South Africa. Standing there on the edge, fear was absolutely present. My brain was doing exactly what it was designed to do. It was scanning for danger, watching closely as the elastic band was being wrapped around my ankles. You know, all kinds of thoughts started to pop up. What if something goes wrong? What if I regret this later? But it didn't stop me because my why mattered more. I knew I was doing this because it mattered to me and so I jumped. Now whether you stay stuck or take action doesn't always depend on how much fear is present. It depends on how clear you are on your why. To make this visible, I created the courage matrix. And you can download the PDF along with some reflection prompts for free at the couragematrix.com. You'll see that fear on the courage matrix is shown as a vertical line. High fear at the top, low fear at the bottom. Drive is the horizontal line. On the left side, low drive guided by Y or you know drive that is mostly fear-based and on the right side high drive guided by meaningful Y. If you place these two lines over one another, you get a cross. And this creates four different states that you can move through. And before I walk you through these four different stages, it's important that you know that these are not fixed labels. They are not you. They are not right or wrong. This is about awareness because every stage asks something different from us. The first state is comfort. This is where fear is low and drive is low. It actually feels quite okay. Things are predictable, safe, familiar. The days kind of blend together. And this is great if you need to recharge. And again, nothing is wrong if this is where you are. But you might also notice that you want something different and you're not really doing anything about it. An example could be staying at a job that feels fine but is not exciting or having an idea that you never act upon because it's comfortable enough to stay where you are or not having a conversation for that same reason. The cost of staying there too long is that slowly you start feeling underchallenged or unexpressed. And again, nothing is wrong, but nothing's really moving either. And so this state asks from us something simple. Are you getting too comfortable? What small action could get you out of that comfort zone? The second state is paralysis. This is where fear is high and drive is low. where people often feel stuck or overwhelmed, where you overthink, where small decisions feel big, or you're worried about choosing wrong. An example could be wanting to start something new, but thinking about it so much that you actually never begin. And this can be a bit tricky because it might feel like your drive is actually high. But remember, not all drive is the same. The drive you might be feeling might actually be fear-based drive. A drive that pushes you to think, to analyze, to control the outcome, but not necessarily to move. And the cost of staying here too long is that overthinking slowly starts to drain your energy and your confidence. So understanding what kind of drive is present is often what helps us move forward again. Paralysis doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. It means that you care about something deeply and that your system is trying to protect you. So what this state asks from us is not to judge ourselves but to reconnect with what matters to us and why it matters enough for us to take a small step into that direction. The third stage is courage. This is where fear is high and your drive is also high. This is the moment on the bridge in South Africa. Fear is there. Your brain is scanning for danger, but your why matters more and pulls you forward. An example could be starting something new because you want to live a life with more freedom and expression. That's a meaningful why. Or having a difficult conversation with someone you care about simply because you don't want to lose this friendship. Also a meaningful why. or moving to a different area so you can spend more time with the people you love. The challenge here is to simply stay with it when fear shows up to keep reconnecting and remembering why this matters to us. The fourth stage is momentum. This is where fear is low and drive is high. When we take courageous action, we create evidence of what works and what doesn't. That evidence gives us information and it builds confidence. And when we keep doing it again and again, when we keep repeating that loop, fear begins to lower and our why keeps getting stronger. And that loop creates momentum. You're taking action. decisions feel easier. You trust yourself more. But there's also something to watch out for here. The cost of staying in momentum too long without awareness is that we can start taking things for granted. We can fall into repetition into habits. Momentum can disappear if we stop being intentional. So this stage is about awareness. It's about noticing what's working, about acknowledging progress, celebrating wins, and to keep learning, keep stretching yourself so that movement continues. So now that we've looked at the four different stages, you might already have an idea of which one best describes where you are right now. And the interesting thing is we move through these stages all the time. Like I said earlier, these are not fixed labels. They are not you. They are simply information. They give you language of what you might be experiencing right now and what you need to move forward. So let's make it a bit more concrete with a few everyday examples. Imagine you have an idea for a creative project. Maybe it's something that you want to write, record, build, or share. But every time you think about starting, your inner voice kicks in. What if it's not good enough? What if people judge it? What if I start and then realize I can't finish it? So, you keep thinking about it. You wait. You analyze. And you never start. Fear is high. And drive feels high because you know you want to move but it's actually fearbased drive so it's actually low. And in the courage matrix that shows up as paralysis. So the question you can ask yourself is what is the cost of staying here? Maybe the cost is that the idea stays in your head forever that something that you care about never gets expressed. and that you never contribute to sharing your art with the world. And then ask yourself, why does this cost matter to you? Maybe art is how you want to unite people and spread love and beauty into the world and you don't want to look back and, you know, one day say, "What if I never really gave this a shot?" These two questions, what is the cost of staying here and why does that cost matter to you? They help you reconnect with your why. And that's how you begin stepping into courage. Another example could be staying in a job that doesn't really fulfill you anymore. I mean, you have nice colleagues, um, you do okay work, everything is fine, and it feels like comfort. But ask yourself, what is the cost of staying here? Is your energy slowly draining? Is it costing you your curiosity or creativity? And why does that matter? The next step might simply be to stretch yourself a little to explore something that is new and excites you, even if it feels a bit scary, and then connect it to why. Why does this matter to you? That's how you begin moving towards courage. Whatever life phase you are in or challenge you're facing, the courage matrix helps you become aware. Understanding what's happening in your physical body and in your brain and how this influences your thoughts and your behavior helps you see that there's nothing wrong with you. It simply helps you to ask the right questions and to take small actions that move you forward. I've not only used this with people in personal situations, I've also used it with teams and in organizations because even great teams get stuck. And when that happens, it affects things like innovation, psychological safety, collaboration, and trust. So, I hope this tool helps you wherever you are, either in your personal life or at work. You can download it again for free as a PDF. Simply go to the couragematrix.com or visit the show notes below. And you might already recognize one of these stages in your own life. And if you do, I'd love to hear it. Which one stands out for you? If you're watching this on YouTube, uh let me know in the comments. And if you're listening on Apple Podcast or Spotify, you can rate this episode and leave a comment there. I'd love to hear your thoughts. All right, that's it for today's conversation. I hope this episode helped you to see things in a different light and inspired you in some way to take action. And if you know someone who might benefit from this, share it with them. Because it's one thing to do the work alone, it's a whole lot easier if we do it together. I'm Luca and I can't wait to see you in our next conversation.