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Achieve Your Career Goals with Courage and Grit

Achieve Your Career Goals with Courage and Grit

Dream big! Aim High! Achieve Your Career Goals! Exciting to hear? Of course. Encouraging? Sure. Realistic? We sometimes wonder.

After all, we know deep down that great success is possible for those that set goals and work hard. But from start to finish, it seems like a VERY long road. How will we ever have the courage to do what it takes to achieve those BIG goals?

One COURAGEOUS step at a time, with plenty of GRIT in between!

photo woman with face in hands. Demonstrating fear to achieve your career goals.

Today, we have a miraculous and seemingly infinite resource of books, training, and virtual cheerleaders online to motivate us over the finish line of our goals. Why then aren’t we basking in prosperity? Why are there so few that actually make it over the finish line?

What is it that can hold so many of us back or eventually stops us?

Of all the dream crushers I have witnessed in people’s careers and business, fear tops the list. It can creep in at any level, hit any person, and can attack at any time. Especially when least expected.

When there is not a wall of courage, a fighting spirit, and deep inner strength, efforts can crumble.

Vision boards, goal lists, and daily affirmations can all get pushed aside when fear steps in. Fear of rejection, disapproval, and possible failure. Fear as we move outside of our comfort zones, or worry of serious financial loss. Even the most advanced positive thinkers can be stopped in their tracks.

Photo of woman reflective when asked how do you plan to achieve your career goals?

So, what do we do?  In setting the course to reach our goals, we must not overlook the value of purposely building our courage and grit for the journey. Gaining courage to be ready to act and developing the grit mindset to keep us going.

When we do the inner preparation and focus on the strength God gives us to use in reaching higher, His power becomes our inner strength when those moments of fear hit the hardest.


Courage for our goals can also be stirred by painful moments in life. When someone tells you that you CAN’T achieve your career goals. Moreover, when they question why YOU even think you can do it. In other words, who do you think you are?

Some dreamers retreat at that tone of disapproval, while others are moved into a “defining moment.” It ignites something powerful inside that makes them more determined than EVER to succeed!

Remembering those defining moments and how it made you feel can fire you up and act as a driving force. But rather than hold it as resentment that will WEAKEN you, forgive, and use it to BUILD your inner strength. God can work all things together for your good and for His plan to generate wonderful success ahead!


photo of confident woman showing when you believe you can achieve your career goals!

Your actions will follow your beliefs. It can be difficult to envision your success when you feel weak, insecure, and discouraged. On the other side, when your courage and grit muscles are strong, your mind can believe to a much higher degree that you are indeed capable and your dreams are possible. 

Therefore, decide to have a mindset of courage and grit. When you start out strong in your THINKING, it leads to greater power when you step into action. Motivation can fade, but being a person of courage and grit actually becomes part of you are, inside and out.


Many years of working with job candidates in my staffing business revealed how each person’s level of courage can affect results.

Skilled workers that lacked courage struggled in communicating their value. On the other hand, less skilled but more courageous applicants carried strength that presented their qualifications well.  In fact, it helped to create trust during the interview as they projected the confidence that they were ready to handle the job.

Furthermore, courage shows up in how you stand, move, speak, motion, and carry yourself. It speaks without words and conveys the message that you are ready for what is in front of you and you plan to do well.

In a highly competitive world, having strong courage and grit can be determining factors for success at the door of opportunity.


photo of highway painted with success and arrow pointing ahead to when you achieve your career goals.

How do you hang on to your dream when you land on a stepping stone? Realize that every job is valuable.  You are not stuck. You control your focus and mindset to appreciate what you are building in and through each experience.

Decide to be a stand out whatever your work is. Investing in where you are now is a deposit into your future.

Going above and beyond may benefit them, but it develops even more in you and connects you closer to your dream. After all, you are positioning yourself for what’s ahead. You are preparing for greater success.


As you continue to rise in your career and level of achievement, always be aware of your energy and enthusiasm in communicating. When you are building a career, every conversation matters. From the word hello, express energetic interest and attention. It not only can affect how people respond to you, but can make a major impact in forming a positive impression.

All of these actions will help to build your courage and grit and keep you on the path to further success ahead.

photo of professional woman with laptop, smiling with confidence, getting prepared for success.

Most importantly, are you preparing yourself for success?

In the movie, Facing the Giants, one of the characters tells the story of two Farmers who desperately needed rain. Both of them prayed for rain, but only one of them went out and prepared his fields to receive it. He asked, “Which one of them do you think trusted God to send the rain?” God will send his rain when he’s ready, have you prepared your field to receive it?

God can answer prayers and open doors quickly. Will you be ready and brave enough to receive opportunities when they come? Ready to step into the role you have been dreaming of and planning for so long?  Will you look the part, speak the part, and act the part needed at that higher level of success?

Begin preparing TODAY for where you want to be tomorrow. The key is to prepare both INSIDE and OUTSIDE for your success ahead. 

Whether you are just starting out on your path or you are well on your way to realizing your goals, having a strong foundation of courage and grit will help you be stronger in every step towards success.

photo of professional woman. Holding device and taking notes on tips to achieve your career goals.

 Here are steps you can take to build courage and grit for your success journey:

  1. Prepare for success INSIDE as much as you prepare outside. Your focus and mindset must be maintained and guarded.
  1. Resolve to study and build your level of courage and grit for the success you want. If fear strikes that you are not enough and don’t have what it takes, remember that God can do more than you could ever ask or imagine. He can also make a way where there is no way. So stand strong, keep building, and STAY in faith.
  1. Prepare and consistently be conscious of how you will walk, talk, speak and present yourself in courage. Both today and in preparation for tomorrow, be positive, professional, and polished.
  1. Make courage and grit foundational pieces when setting goals. Prepare in advance how you will tackle and take down fears, doubts, or any obstacle that could get in the way. How you will think, what you will do, and how you will stay strong and handle it.
  1. Add the courage element to your visualization. Consciously add courage to the picture of how you see and identify yourself and the actions you take on the way to completing your goals.


Finally, do not be afraid to dream BIG! When you model strength, courage, and grit, it affects everything and everyone around you. Courage is contagious. You never know how YOUR courage may cause others to also rise up and dare to realize their dreams too!

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Related Post:  5 Actions Steps To Build Stronger Courage and Grit



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Melissa Holy, a former CEO in the staffing industry, has been dedicated to the success of individuals in their careers and businesses. Now, as the founder of GRIT Business & Success Training, and the author of Living the GRIT Life Blog, she provides strategies, insight, and motivation to continue her passion of helping people build success personally and professionally. Visit MELISSAHOLY.COM to find out more about staying strong INSIDE, to live powerfully OUTSIDE.